Autumn

Autumn has finally arrived.

It was late getting here, but it finally made it.

This morning was overcast and there was a definite chill in the air. People on their way to work had donned overcoats for the first time. I call it “pumpkin weather.”

You may recall that there’s a farmers market every Tuesday in the plaza where I work. The recent change from summer to autumn was reflected in the produce today.

Gone were the ears of fresh corn. Acorn squash had replaced the zucchini. A few remnants of late-harvest tomatoes had managed to limp their way in.

That may sound a little sad, but during autumn comes the glories of fresh apples Lots of them.

Apples. Manzanas. Pommes. Äpfel. яблоки

Having grown up in South Texas, I had never been around apples fresh from the orchard. If you’ve never had, say, a Cortland apple fresh off the tree, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Eve definitely knew a good thing when she disobeyed God’s command.

With the arrival of autumn, various squashes are happy to make an appearance.

Along with the cruciferous Brussels sprouts and cabbage sprouts (a favorite of mine)

And a variety of sweet potatoes (I’ll pass, thank you)

The peppers and eggplants are still around, looking ever so tasty.

Apparently, we are blessed with an abundance of apple orchards in nearby Indiana and Michigan which produce an amazing variety of apples. Most of these are not cultivated for mass transport, so you’ll never see them in your average mega-market thousands of miles away.

This morning, I counted 34 different varieties of apples.

Amazing. Simply amazing. . . .

. . . . I want pie.