Bucket of Apples

Bucket 3/4

Autumn officially arrives this Saturday—my favorite season! In our family, fall meant making applesauce, which did not necessarily include apple picking—I usually bought a bushel of “drops” from a local farm. While they simmered in my Dutch oven on the stove, I set out my grandmother’s old apple mill, and lined up our plastic containers.

When grandchildren came along I soon learned I didn’t need as many containers for the freezer—their taste testing of the warm sweetness greatly diminished our production volume. Nothing says fall to me as much as apples. But this favorite season includes many more delights.

• I love the colors of fall. Who is not drawn to gas-guzzling rides through the country to ooh and aah at changing leaves that glamorize the landscape?
• I thrill to see orange pumpkins sitting on porches, some with grinning faces and a flickering candle within. Then there are roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin anything (except coffee).
• I think God had fun creating gourds with their varied colors, odd shapes, stripes and bumps.
• I love the need for a sweater or hoodie, an added blanket on the bed, and the return of cozy slippers.
• I love apple cider, apple pie, and caramel apples on a stick.
• I love to watch the leaves fall and twirl, dancing around me, and to hear them swish when I shuffle through their carpet.
• I love yellow and rust-colored mums and curly leafed purple cabbages.
• I love the memory of raking leaves to the edge of our property and burning them in the road. My nostalgia can still evoke the wonderful woodsy fragrance and savor the quiet absence of leaf blowers.

What do you love about fall?