Up To Our Knees in Apples!

  So, in homesteader fashion, me, my dad, and my 3 oldest boys headed out to Starr Mountain to a friend of ours to pick some apples.  I was so excited to see the trees loaded with beautiful green and red apples.  It reminds me of fall and that feeling you get when you smell the fresh apples baking in the oven.  I think back to my younger days, when life was more carefree, driving home on our road where the tree tops seem to bend over and release their beauty on the ground.  The leaves dancing on the pavement over the joy of fall and the hues of each red, orange, yellow and brown color filling my path home. 
   I long for fall.  Don't get me wrong, there is nothing better than swimming in the creek and being out in the garden.  But fall is my FAVORITE season.  So off to the mountains we go, the boys are screaming with joy over their bounty of large apples, but me, I am just enjoying time with my dad and the beauty and simplicity of the moment. ( I have a sneaking suspicion that my desire to be out in the open and living off the land comes from him.)  We picked until all the buckets we took were full.  Then sadly left the mountain to come back to our home to get busy.  The thoughts were racing through my mind on the way home, apple butter, apple jelly, apple pies, applesauce, cooked apples, baked apples, apple fritters, apple doughnuts.....oh the possibilities.
    But then reality hit and I have dinner to fix, a house to clean, animals that are requiring special attention, and I realize that my grandiose plans will have to wait till tomorrow.  So, I helped my mom peel and cut up a batch for jelly, we made a pie and then I traveled home to begin dinner.  I went to the computer to get a idea on baking apples and came across a simple recipe.  I cut the apples put each one individually in a bowl and layered the recipe over the top.  I baked them and served them to my children....not the reception I was hoping for....2 ate the baked apples and the other 3 decided they would forgo dessert tonight.  Not sweet enough for them, but was exactly what I needed.  My hubs did eat it, so it was not a total bomb...LOL
    Now what to do with the other 60 lbs of apples....only tomorrow knows.  So there you have it,  heaven today was enjoying time with my loved ones doing something very simple......but the reality is there are only so many hours in a day, and when you have apples up to your knees.....it'll just have to wait till tomorrow :)