Overnight It's Fall

And just like that, overnight, it is fall in Michigan. The fog rolls in each morning since the air is now cooler than the ground but Lake Michigan holds the heat of summer, so we enjoy warmer days in our lakeshore town than our neighbors inland. The leaves have just started to turn here, with the occasional peek of oranges and reds. And my mornings on the porch now include a blanket and a heater to ward off the chill before the sun really does its work.

We continued our tradition of apple picking but without kids this year as they are now grown. Instead we took friends who had never had the pleasure of sampling apples off the tree and enjoying an impromptu taste test in the orchard, but with a flight of apples instead of wine. Some are spicy and sharp tasting, some are so sweet and crisp they snap as you bite in. Other varieties are soft and mild, while another so tart we agreed it'd only be good for baking or sauce. We completed our hard work of picking, debating varieties, and pulling our haul by wagon to the car by enjoying donuts and cold cider. There really is nothing better than a freshly fried donut.

Tonight I'll be making apple crisp and peeling apples to turn into sauce. I need to try making apple butter again, since I apparently wasn't patient enough last year and didn't let it cook long enough thicken to the right consistency.