Apples

I finished Seymour in time to get my entries in for the Walk in the Wild show, so I'm super stoked about that.  There are a bunch of miscellaneous things I still need to do before he's completely done though (hanging pockets, bone reinforcement etc.) so I'm not declaring him officially done just yet.  I also want to share a few techniques I used on some foreground elements.

However, since I got the show entries in, it was time to address another "situation" that's been hanging around in my house since my family was here over Labor Day, namely the apples.  My folks have about 30 fruit trees, a mix of apples, cherries, and peaches.  It's a blessing, but in good fruit years it's also a ton of work.   This year turned out to be a great fruit year, and so my parents brought out 8 large boxes of apples for my sister and me when they were here visiting.  Becky took as many as would fit in her car, but that still left me with about 6 boxes of them.  I was originally a bit irritated with my mom and dad, I mean, who has time to deal with all those apples, but when I visited them last week I could see why.  In spite of them picking constantly, their friends picking constantly, and random visitors picking, many of the trees don't even look like they've been touched.  The trees are so weighed down with fruit it's unbelievable. 

Anyway, ever since they visited the apples have been sitting in my entryway (good thing we don't need to get in and out of the front door).  I've been eating them for lunch and took several grocery stacks full to work, but other than that haven't done anything with them.  The whole house smells like apple.  It was a really lovely smell at first but after a few days every time I walked in the house I thought, Oh-My-Goodness-I-
Have-Got-To-Do-Something-With-Those-Apples.  My mom and dad have been doing things with them almost every evening, making applesauce, apple butter, dried apples, apple pies, and who knows what else.

I don't do jams/apple butter/apple sauce, but today Mike and I finally dealt with the apples.  I dried three dryers worth, made six pies, six more pie fillings, and 3 cakes. Mike peeled them all (for the pies and cakes) and it took us almost all day.  You should have seen my kitchen and kitchen floor!  There are still three boxes of apples left, but I finally feel like I made a dent in them! Most of the pies and fillings are in the freezer, but I'm looking forward to snacking on the yummy dried apples and cakes.

Hooray!