How D'Ya Like Them Apples?

I was so exhausted last week. Maybe because we were slow at work and it made me sleepy. Anyway, I'm back! I had a great weekend which revived my need to write so here I am!

Thursday night a couple girls from work came over and watched "P.S. I Love You" with me. It was such a good movie. I don't know why I waited so long to see it. So the next night, T came over and we watched it together. He even thought it was an awesome movie. If you haven't seen this movie yet, rent it and watch it! It kind of bridges the divide between what guys like and what girls like - much like "The Notebook." And it wasn't a cry fest either so if you're like me and you just don't feel like having a good cry, you can still get this movie. It has a lot of funny parts and only a few heart-string tugging parts. Just an all around great movie.

Saturday, T and I went to an outdoor market and bought lots and lots of veggies. I'm going to start freezing them tonight. Here's my list: 4 pounds of green beans, 2 heads of cauliflower, 5 big beefsteak tomatoes, 3 heads of broccoli (actually from a different farmer's market), 2 bunches of beets (also from a different farmer's market), 4 huge, sweet onions, 4 green peppers, 4 red peppers, 1 pint of red raspberries (because they looked good), and 2 pints of pears (which was about 10 or 12 pears). The grand total? $51.74! If I was to go to a regular grocery store and buy all that, I would have spent over $100! I think I have enough to last me the majority of winter. We'll see.

After the big farmer's market trip, we drop all the produce off and promptly get back in the car to drive about 30 minutes south to an apple orchard. I was told by a co-worker that this particular orchard had the best apple cider in our tri-county area. I have nothing to compare it to, but it's pretty darn good. We drive back to the orchard area, find a parking spot, and then sit there staring confusedly at the rows and rows of apple trees. "We didn't bring any bags," I finally say. "Well, let's just get out and walk around," T offers. So, I leave my camera, my checkbook, and my list of in-season apples in the car, and we walk toward the guy handing out plastic produce bags (so not eco-friendly!). T and I each take one bag and then T asks where I want to start. "Well, I didn't bring my camera or anything. Should I go get it?" I ask. "Why would you leave all that stuff in the car?" he wails. "I just thought you wanted to walk around and check it out first." T looks at me like I'm the biggest moron alive and I realize how stupid my train of thinking is so we trek back to the car and get everything out. Since we're right in front of them, we decide to stop and look at the "U-Pick" Grapes. I make T try one and he agrees only after I've tried one. They were the best grapes I've ever had. A grape that tastes like a grape marker smells! Never knew they existed. We snap a few pictures
(more like 34 pictures of grapes and 12 pictures of T and me) then head over to the apple trees. All I want are Macoun. They are spicy and crunchy and perfect for apple sauce. A little lost and looking for non-existant signs, we pick 14 1/2 pounds of wine sap apples instead (tart and crunchy. Also good for applesauce but I do not like tart apples). We then pick another 13 pounds of apples: golden delicious, more wine sap (oops), and the one Jonathan apple left on a tree. So, after 27 1/2 pounds of apples, 70-ish posed pictures of either T or me picking an apple , 2 bottles of grape juice from a local winery sold in the orchard's store, 1 gallon of apple cider, and at least one bite on my arm -from either a fly or a spider, we are ready to go home. We turn the car around a couple of times to get pictures of the pretty fall leaves and even back up to get a great picture of a little barn amongst a bunch of turning trees (do not attempt backing up on a busy road yourselves. I am very practiced in these death-defying stunts).
True tourists in our own county.

T's parents were camping over the weekend so we stopped by and drank apple cider and grape juice by the fire. I had my last two s'mores for the year. We then went home and collapsed. We love fall.