Can it really be Wednesday already?  It seems as though September has swept me off my feet.  There's been so much going on here behind the scenes of this little space.  The apple orchard is in full swing and it's hard to put into words how incredibly satisfying this job is.  It's not just sorting and packing the apples that I love so much.  It's the taste testing of the many varieties of apples as they ripen, strolling through the orchard and picking not just apples but those juicy plums and the best tasting grapes you've ever had in your whole life.  Peeking at the pumpkins, the gourds, the corn maze.  It's snipping those flower blooms that are at the perfect stage for drying in the barn.  And that flower garden.  It's truly amazing, I can't deny it.  It's bursting with color and as I stood there in awe I thought, why... oh why... didn't I bring my camera?  The owners are such hard-working, good people.  Such kind and generous souls they are.  They make us lunch each day with goods that they've gathered from their garden and they are really good cooks.  And bakers too.  Fresh apple raspberry pie.  Apple crunch.  Apple scones.  The caramel apples are pretty fantastic too.  Working here is amazing and love is just too small of a word.  And all of this was for the asking.  Yes indeed.  Last year in late summer we stopped by to pick raspberries and before we left I spoke to the owner.  I asked her if they would need any help for the upcoming apple season.  I promised her that even though she didn't know us, we were good people and would prove to be good workers as well.  She took our word and soon after, the season began.  The other folks that help with the harvest each year are like long, lost friends that welcomed us and taught us all we needed to know. 

For many, many years I sat in an office cubicle.  I would pray each morning on the way to work for something better to come my way.  I'd get to work and think to myself, what's the point?  I was wasting my life away with people that I spent more time with than my own family.  After corporate mergers and enough hoopla to last me a lifetime, it finally ended.  Since that time I've been venturing into areas that I never thought I'd be able to do and sometimes all I had to do was ask.  Of course there are no guarantees in life and no guarantee that I won't have to take an office job in the future but for right here and now, this is where I'm meant to be.  I want to experience life, not just wish for it.

Ah yes... a simple and good, apple-filled life.