Summer Orchard

Martin knew it was autumn again, for Dog ran into the house bringing wind and frost and a smell of apples turned to cider under trees. In dark clock-springs of hair, Dog fetched goldenrod, dust of farewell-summer, acorn-husk, hair of squirrel, feather of departed robin, sawdust from fresh-cut cordwood, and leaves like charcoals shaken from a blaze of maple trees. Dog jumped. Showers of brittle fern, blackberry vine, marsh-grass sprang over the bed where Martin shouted. No doubt, no doubt of it at all, this incredible beast was October!

- Ray Bradbury, The Emissary 

Churchyard

Cider made with bittersweet apples:

Our take on England’s west country cider. It’s mild with a rich apple finish. The key is drinkability. Balanced, not too much acid, and it can be drunk day long and night late. Roger Wilkins told us ‘the greatest cider drinkers are in the churchyard pushing up daisies.’ Cheers to these great drinkers.

Click the great logo below to see other offerings from the Ploughman Farm Cidery...

Rum Cider Cocktail

From WorldlyTreat.com:

Ingredients

Crushed ice

4 .Oz dark rum (I used aged rum)

8 .Oz apple cider

4 dashes orange bitters

2 .Oz triple sec simple syrup

ginger beer to top (I strongly advice using Fever-Tree brand. The ginger is intense)

Apple slices to garnish (from 1 apple)

Instructions

Combine the rum, apple cider, and orange bitters in a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake vigorously until frosted.

Fill the serving glasses with crushed ice (you can equally enjoy it without ice).

Strain the rum cider cocktail into the glasses halfway up (about 7.oz). Top with ginger beer. Garnish with apple slices or cinnamon sticks. Sip immediately.

Click below...

Apples And October Games

The rich syrupy smell of sweets filled the bustling house. Louise had laid out apples in new skins of toffee; there were vast bowls of punch fresh-mixed, stringed apples in each door, scooped, vented pumpkins peering triangularly from each cold window. There was a water tub in the centre of the living room, waiting, with a sack of apples nearby, for dunking to begin. All that was needed was the catalyst, the impouring of children, to start the apples bobbing, the stringed apples to penduluming in the crowded doors, the sweets to vanish, the halls to echo with fright or delight, it was all the same.

Now, the house was silent with preparation. And just a little more than that.

- Ray Bradbury

Image by crooked_toe_rd.

And Close Beside It A Shattered Pumpkin

The last of the family photos.

These are from a Halloween Party where I think I was Mr. Uptight (but dressed as Ichabod Crane) and insisted on a series of Traditional "events," such as bobbing for apples and watching the Charlie Brown Halloween Special (seen below on that ugly awful black and white tv in an era of color television [if you zoom in, you can actually see Lucy and some other gal]).

Ichabod Crane, my brother the Skeleton, and Vincent Von Vampire

Me faking contentment.  I probably insisted that my mother capture this moment on film for posterity.

Click here for the previous Family Photo Albums blog entries.

Apple Heads

Image by Alexander Mann.

Shrunken Apple Heads

Before and After... from The Old House on the Hill tumblr.

The tumblr here.