DocAndersen
My father loved apples. When my parents bought the mini-farm, they called Andersen Acres my father, and I planted more than 140 Apple, Pear, Walnut and other trees on the property. The Apple Trees were all dwarf trees and have now long passed beyond their lifespan. Figure the average dwarf tree lasts between 20 and 30 years. The trees my father and I planted on his mini-farm were planted more than 35 years ago. I also love apples. It was the one thing I remember missing when we lived in Thailand, a good apple.
Based on that, and based on the fact that it is falling now, I remember one of the many trips we took to the many apple orchards around southern Indiana. There are many, and I think over the course of the boy’s small stage we went to quite a few of them. Each orchard is having a grouping of apple trees, and, of course, a pumpkin patch. The one near our house in Maryland is configured the same way. Trees, Apples and the seasonal pumpkin patch.
The nice thing about visiting someone else’s apple orchard is that I didn’t have to plant the trees. Not in looking back now that I mind planting those trees. That was the time I got to spend with my dad, and I miss those times. Apples are something that I truly enjoy. In fact, it is time to wander over to Butler’s (the local apple orchard) and get some good apples. We don’t wander to the pumpkin patch anymore; the kids are too old for Halloween. They stand at the door and pass out candy. Sometimes, I think wistfully of Halloween of old.
