I happened to come across this short video today and it seemed very appropriate to share it during this particularly stressful time in our nation. I made me stop and think - and realize how much work we all have to do to restore the respect and allegiance represented here:

Our Flag

Last night the temperature dipped into the fairly low 40s here - my thermometer registered a low of 42F. I opened the house up to the fresh morning air, but by 10:30 a.m., we were chilly and now I've closed it up and wishing I'd reacted just a bit sooner. The sun is nice, but the air is still coolish - 74.2F right now. I told Fred to watch for turning leaves on the hillsides - it sure begins to feel like fall to me! That said, I know we'll have more nice summer weather, but as the sun changes a little every day, slipping lower in the sky, we realize the days are becoming shorter and summer is on its way as autumn approaches.

The wind on Tuesday night stripped lots of apples off our old apple tree. This happens to be a year when it was loaded with apples - next year there probably will be few to none. I don't believe they are anywhere near ripe yet, but I was reminded of how my kids loved "green apple pie" in late summer when we were at camp. Bob was especially fond of green apple pie and used to bring me apples from goodness knows where - mostly up on what we called the Roy Lot, now owned by Kate and Jules Chatot. There used to be a wonderful orchard up there - a dozen or so trees that our family harvested when I was very young. I introduced my kids to those trees when they were going up and we used to go up the lane that was known as the  Bayley-Hazen Road (where Chatot Road is now, and beyond) from camp.

When I was a kid, we reached the orchard from the opposite direction, on the old lane that separated the farm's building, hayfields and pastures. Our land ended at the stone wall that separated what once was Asa Mack's farm and later belonged to Dr. Delton Watt.

The old lane wasn't the exact route of the Bayley-Hazen military road - that runs somewhat east of the lane. However, what we called the old lane was actually used by early settlers and Cabot Plain folks. It was on higher ground and was a much easier route to travel with horses or oxen than the old military road. There used to be three or four productive farms along that road.

Back to green apple pies.  Bob would come home carrying all the apples he could gather into his t-shirt or jacket and I would make the pie - or pies. Peeling and cutting up those usually small, green and sour apples took hours, but with plenty of sugar and just the right spices, that first apple pie each summer was truly special. I haven't had one of those in years - perhaps I'll go out and pick up some of those windfalls . . . !