Needful Things

I need to have several things in the house when I write:

1. A Fresh Pot of Tea, go figure.

2. Eclectic music. I like to listen to world cafe stuff, as well as classics.

3. Benedict Cumberbatch, in one form or another, as much as possible, please.

4. Books and more books, and while I'm at it may I just mention that I desperately need new bookshelves? Cause I'm in that phase where the volumes are double- and treble stacked. And I don't like it.

5. Pumpkin seeds - A seasonal phase, but a good one. Those things are delicious.

6. Fresh apples - Again, seasonal. Will be replaced by fresh oranges in the winter and peaches in the summer.

7. Comfy socks - I buy white ribbed ones from Target in brushed cotton. 

8, A workout - to keep the old ticker pumping.

9. A really good night's sleep - helped along with milk, calcium, and chamomile.

10. Organic Lavender Spray - for my sheets, to also help along the sometimes elusive good night's sleep. 

There are other things I must have, like my husband's warm bulk next to me or my kid's sleepy head on my shoulder, but those are a given, a part of me, like a limb or a facial feature. All that other stuff I have to go and buy.

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Apples

My fruit eating habits are very seasonal. Oranges in the winter, cherries and peaches all summer, and now that  it's fall - it's apple time.

My favorite apples are Honey Crisps. I tried them for the first time last year and cursed all the years I had spent NOT eating these beauties. If I peel one and serve it with sliced cheese - a nice, sharp cheddar, for example - my husband will eat the entire plateful.

My least favorite apple is the Red Delicious variety. It is a beautiful apple to look at. The color is gorgeous, and I love the ones that have tiny "stars" all over them. There's one problem - someone forgot to put in any taste. Plus I always eat the skin on my apples, and the peel on Red Delicious tastes like exploded balloon to me. Except thicker and harder to chow down.

Gorgeous to look at, but - no thanks.

For pies, I prefer the hard types that aren't as sweet. Granny Smiths are an easy choice. I hear Pippins are good too, although I've never had one. (I dream of trying a Cox's Orange Pippin, which I hear are spectacular.)

I'm not above having a caramel apple if it's homemade, although I'm on a diet now so I suppose I can't do that. They are delicious in salads as well, green and chicken, and a pork roast isn't complete without some apples on the side, IMO.

My daughter has been bugging me to go apple picking for a while now, so today we are  going to venture out and give it a try. I see that it is cold and cloudy - a perfect fall day for picking apples. Afterwards some of us can have mulled cider and apple donuts. (Not  me - diet, etc.)

Did I mention that I love Bulmer's hard cider to wash down a hearty meal of roast chicken? Because I do.

Or with brown bread? Yup, that works too.

But my favorite way to have apples is the time-honored way - held in the hand, unpeeled, as I take a big, crunchy, juicy bite. There's nothing better than that.

September

As a kid, this was the saddest month ever. Things are quite different now - as a stay-at-home mom, I am ready to celebrate. Amazing how life changes our views, isn't it?

I've treasured the summer months our family has had together. We had a very social summer, one of the busiest ever, I believe. There were loads of parties, playdates, sleepovers, dinners... and it was all wonderful.

Of course, being out and about meant I had to actually do my hair, put on some stuff known as "Make Up" and, worst of all, shave my limbs. 

So I'm ready for a few days of fall. I've planned some family stuff and the get-togethers will continue, of course, but perhaps I can extend the time between leg clippings now that I can wear pants without going into heat shock. 

I'm going to bump up writing time, of course. There have been several stories bumping around in my head for several weeks now, and I may just explode if I don't get them out. 

Rushing about with a kid seriously eats into workout time, I've found, so I'm going to bump that up as well. My workout of choice is jogging, and apparently walking around the supermarket saying, "No, I'm not going to by you a donut" every five minutes to your kid doesn't count as exercise.

Naturally, there are all the fall things to look forward to: the colors, the fresh air, Halloween, HoneyCrisp apples, walks outside with a friend, sweatshirts, football...

Sure, I know there will be headaches in the future as well; this is real life, after all. My kid is going into third grade, and I hear that the work gets serious at this point. Like, projects and tests and stuff. Plus, we're jumping, with complete blind faith, into the soccer pool. Yeah, clueless about that, but I have the feeling Momma is going to be sitting at a lot of practices. That's ok - bring it on. Did I mention the pants and the dialing back on leg shaves?

So, hurray, summer! You were fantastic. We had an incredible time. And now - bring on the fall.