Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree . . .

With Anyone Else But Me!

It was another in a string of glorious September days, sunny with blue skies during the day, chilly at night. So I took an impromptu day off work and we drove down (about an hour and twenty minutes) to see my parents.

My husband and I stopped at the local Creme Stop on the way (fish sandwiches with everything, onion rings, and shakes, oh my!) and then spent the afternoon visiting them at the house where I grew up, with four sisters and a brother.

We found my parents doing quite well, and full of beans, and we talked about everything under the sun. About family, and work, and faith, and hummingbirds, and the current state of the world and everything in it. I hadn't seen them since the reunion back in July, so we had lots of catching up to do.

I even heard a few family stories I'd never heard before, including a tale about the only new car they ever bought in their life (for the record, a spiffy 1957 Ford, which turned out to be a complete and total disappointment). What is that worth? And my father showed me the yellow roses blooming, even now, along the fence rail.

My husband and I also got to swipe some vegetables. For what is a late-summer visit FOR, if not for the swiping of veggies? :-) The pumpkins are ripening, and I was asked to draw a face on one (for carving later, I assume). I was directed to pick a pumpkin to take along home, which I did. We also made off with quite a few red-ripe tomatoes and white potatoes. Pretty much anything that wasn't nailed down. ;-)

There is an apple tree in the backyard that was toppled during a storm, but the tree is full of apples, and so my father is determined to save them. So he has created a contraption to bolster the tree and support it, to get the tree at least through this year's harvest. The tree is being fed right now by a single root. The situation is tenuous at best, but the tree and its fruits are still looking pretty good!

So as we were standing in the yard chatting just before we departed, I asked my parents, Lee and Norma (he is 87, she will join him in that number next month), married these 67 years as of this past June, to pose for me in front of the apple tree that my father is trying to save.

This charming photo was the result, and I have to admit that it makes my heart smile to see them standing like this, arm in arm, still happy together and still in love, after all these years. :-)

The soundtrack: The Andrews Sisters, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree.