Week 136: Apple Orchard
A perfect autumn Sunday with friends…
Each Sunday, my wife and I cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.
Rivulets of water formed their way along the window as the car sped along Indiana county roads. I don’t often sit in the backseat many times these days. I happened to be sitting in the backseat today as we went to the apple orchard with our friends, Laura and Michael. It wasn’t raining so much as misting. There was water all around us. We figured this meant that the orchard wouldn’t be as busy. But we were wrong.
We got to the orchard and it was packed. I guess the apple orchard is a pretty popular fall activity. But no worries — we grabbed some baskets and found our own little corner of the orchard where we went about picking Fuji apples. It had been ages since I had been apple picking.
I’m not sure what else to say other than that apple picking is an activity that just feels fresh. With the misty conditions, I felt like I was in a life-size version of those water jets in the grocery store. But this was nature’s water jet. I like it better.
Our buckets filled, we made our way to the store filled with jams, kettle corn and fall trinkets. Oh, and we obviously had to get some cider too. And I got a donut. They even had cider slushies! But we said no to the massive pumpkins that were almost the size of our house. We at least have some self-control.
As we left the orchard, we had smiles on our faces and warmth inside. Laughs and good times will do that. Even if the weather is cold and gray, it doesn’t matter. Not when you’re with friends.
I hope you have some “orchard friends” in your life. People that will just pick up and go to the bookstore with you on a random night or plan an outing weeks ahead. Either way, the main idea is shared time.
We didn’t do any cooking that day, necessarily. But prep is half the battle. And all these apples would have to go to use somehow. You’ll have to come back next week to see what they made. In the meantime, the apple picking certainly made for some good memories!
A chill in the air and warmth in our hearts — it was the perfect fall day. Yes, the apples and the layered clothing had something to do with that.
But the company had much more.
