April 1, 2014
2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge
A Rural Life
Day 1
A is for the Apple Tree Story
Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge! This is the fourth year I've participated in the challenge, and I’m all set to go. It’s time to reconnect with bloggers from past challenges and to meet new people and make new friends.
This year, 2014, is all about my rural life. It’s sort of like Walton’s Mountain meets the big city meets middle America. It’s my life and the forces that come together to make my unique world.
Will I do a little promo along the way? Sure! Writing is a huge part of who I am. I can’t blog if I cut out part of my life, now can I? So just like life this year will be a mix-up - a wonderful combination of this and that all rolled into one that may seem chaotic on the surface but blends together to create the whole package that is A Rural Life.
So thanks for coming along for the ride in the 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge.
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My grandmother had an apple tree that she greatly favored for the quality of apples it produced. The tree was on a sight line from my grandmother’s kitchen window and she kept an eye on it throughout each summer to determine how much applesauce and apple butter she would be making in the fall.
One year, the old tree was so full of apples the branches bowed toward the ground. Anticipation ran high. Everyone counted their pies before they were baked until the day IT happened.
As dawn broke, the heinous crime was revealed. Every apple as far up as a person could reach was gone. My grandmother was livid.
Someone had crept in under cover of darkness and stolen the apples from her best tree. She was ready to shoot first and forget about asking any questions at all. You've heard the saying, “dig the hole, hire the hearse.” She was there and, let's face it, we have enough property we could sing along with Vicki Lawrence ("and that's one body that'll never be found....").
My grandfather went outside to investigate the crime in more depth and discovered the truth. No human hand had wrought such mischief. The local deer had come in for a midnight feast. It wasn't long until instead of rows of canned applesauce lining her shelves, venison filled my grandmother’s freezer.
The tree is gone now, as is my grandparent's house, but the story remains part of my family’s dialogue. A cousin owns the old home place and has planted new trees in line from where the old one stood. We laughed about that old story as we stood and admired his new little saplings, counting the years until they produce. And I gave him fair warning - he shouldn't question where the apples came from if someday I give him a fresh-baked apple crisp.
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You didn’t really think you’d get away without a brief book promo, did you?
A is also for A Hard Habit to Break. For more information, please visit my website at https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/a-hard-habit-to-break-book-of-men-of.html .
KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
Visit my bookshelf at:
Social media links:
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
14 comments:
Oh that's too funny! Love family stories like that :)
Happy A to Z-ing!
~Anna
My A to Z.
Oh dear! I'll be honest, I was equal parts aghast and amused at the deer eating the apples. I know the pain of watching something grow with anticipation, only to have nature or wildlife steal it away just as it's time to harvest.
But I bet that was some delicious venison!
~Rebekah Loper
Fantastical Ponderings - The A-Zs of Worldbuilding
The Rabid Rainbow Ferret Society
Habits are truly hard to break. But they are a part of us. Looking forward to more of your post for the A to Z Blogging Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by the blog for the A to Z!
I did have some fun growing up in the country :) I could tell stories on my parents, but my Mom is still alive. She'd track me down if I told stories on her.
I note you are an old hand at the A to Z, so you know what's involved. That is good as I am sort of on petrol backstage and its good when folk know what they are doing.
All the best I will be passing again, although I have gained a whole new chunk of blogs to look at so am running about in a rush.
Rob Z Tobor
Terrific story and well told!
I think my grandmother would have her some wild meat in the freezer too.
Decadent Kane (blog)
Your family story brought some memories to my mind. My grandmother didn't have any apple trees, but she had some friends that had an apple orchid and they would let her pick all she wanted in the fall. There was nothing better than my grandmother's homemade apple butter!
I can so relate to your story. When I moved into my house I had a dozen apple trees. The first year I had so many apples I advertised to sell what I couldn't use ($3 a paper grocery bag full...dating my self). I knew nothing about country living and the following year let the horses graze the small orchard in the winter. They ate the grass, the tree leaves, and the tree bark. How was I to know the sap would run in the spring and the tree would die. I was crushed. I planted more trees over the years, but none grew apples like those old trees.
Brenda
www.AnEclecticAuthor.blogspot.com
High fives, my sister, we are doing this again!! Fantastic story. I had lilac bush that my grandmother planted in 1954 that just officially died.
Mel - I have a lilac bush that is 33 years years old. My grandmother started it for me when I first moved here. HER lilac came from her grandmother in 1937 when my mother was born.
Brenda - You're so right the old trees produced better apples and more of them. I think apples used to taste better, too.
Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Loved the story :)
My blogs :)
Story Teller - http://vikaskhair.blogspot.com
My Third Eye -
http://cameramythirdeye.blogspot.com
Great post, reminds me of all my own old family stories. We had a my mom's favorite cherry tree. And, one day the cherries went missing.
I'm sure the meat was all the sweeter because of the story!
Just finished A Cat Named Hercules and decided to pay a visit. Whoa, I did A to Z too! Here's my A post
Congrats on finishing the A to Z. It's more difficult than it looks on the surface :)
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