Country Living

Have M and K lost interest in sharing the details of their adventures? Or have the adventures ceased? Admittedly, country living is not quite so exciting as driving around the country. Nonetheless, we are doing some things that we actually enjoy.

Of course this is apple season, and although we have not had a Pennsylvania apple that rivals the Washington apples we had this summer, M's mother bought a half-bushel of delicious locally grown apples. We enthusiastically started to work our way through the apples by eating one with every meal, and sometimes in between. This hardly made a dent though, so we turned to baking, and I got out this contraption that peels and cores and slices the apples as you turn a crank. It was actually quite fun. M rolled out some vegan dough and we were rewarded by two tasy pies and an apple dumpling.

Other country living activities include yard work. As I still have the blood of a Phoenician, adjusting to the cool autumn temperatures has been unpleasant, and I was not that excited about working outside. As a child of the suburbs, I grew up with an ample backyard, or so I thought, and am no stranger to a rake, pitchfork or hedgeclippers. But friends, this is a whole new ball game. Country living includes an endless gravel driveway, lined by overgrown pine trees and brush that needs trimming. The trimming part is pretty easy thanks to a pole saw and other fun toys that M's dad has. But what to do with all the stuff you chop down? We decided to drag it to the edge of the woods to get it out of the way, and then put it in the chipper, so we can add it to the flower beds and compost pile. This was no easy task. I'm not sure if dragging eight foot long pine branches a half mile up a hill is good training for hiking the AT, but I definitely got a workout. This job will have to be completed another day, since we were not able to get the chipper running. After trimming, it was time to haul logs from another pile down to be split and dried.

Country living would not be complete without games in front of the fire. One of the best things about this house is the fireplace in the living room, that keeps us toasty warm in the evenings. Scrabble is a game that can become quite contentious when M and I play, and he usually wins, although I think I came up with better words.