Apples
I'm strictly a Windows guy, but I did have two pretty good experiences with apples today. One was a Liberty, which was pretty good but was a little more tart than I like in an apple; the other was a Priscilla, which was sweet and crisp and probably as good as any apple I've ever eaten. Best of all, they were as fresh as fresh could be, each having been plucked from its tree by my own hand seconds before eating them.
Ha ha! See what I did there? I implied that I would be talking about computers, but I was actually talking about the trip I took today to an apple orchard. It was organized by my church's international outreach ministry. As I've explained before, one of the purposes of the internationals ministry is introducing foreign nationals studying or working in Madison to American culture. Around here, apple picking is a pretty common fall activity, and a couple of our church members happen own an apple orchard near New Glarus, Wisconsin ... add those things together and you've got a tailor-made international outreach excursion.
We couldn't have had a nicer day for it: clear blue skies, a light breeze, not too hot. As the day progressed, the wind picked up and the clouds moved in, but by that time we'd moved on to another church member's home for a picnic, and by the time it started to rain we were on our way back to Madison. The only problem was that the directions we were given were lousy. They directed us to a farm with turkeys and a friendly dog wandering around the yard of the farmhouse, which was inhabited by a nice lady who told us the orchard was about 0.3 miles back. Thanks, Mapquest!
That said, it was at least partly my fault we ended up at the wrong farm. The orchard was was clearly marked with an easy-to-read sign, which I had in fact seen. But we just drove past, because the address on the the street address on the sign didn't match the address on the directions. The sensible thing would have been to turn in there anyway.
Oh well. The important thing is that we did eventually find it, and we all got to eat yummy apples and take a hayride around the farm and just generally enjoy being outside on a beautiful fall day, and I call that a success.
Ha ha! See what I did there? I implied that I would be talking about computers, but I was actually talking about the trip I took today to an apple orchard. It was organized by my church's international outreach ministry. As I've explained before, one of the purposes of the internationals ministry is introducing foreign nationals studying or working in Madison to American culture. Around here, apple picking is a pretty common fall activity, and a couple of our church members happen own an apple orchard near New Glarus, Wisconsin ... add those things together and you've got a tailor-made international outreach excursion.
We couldn't have had a nicer day for it: clear blue skies, a light breeze, not too hot. As the day progressed, the wind picked up and the clouds moved in, but by that time we'd moved on to another church member's home for a picnic, and by the time it started to rain we were on our way back to Madison. The only problem was that the directions we were given were lousy. They directed us to a farm with turkeys and a friendly dog wandering around the yard of the farmhouse, which was inhabited by a nice lady who told us the orchard was about 0.3 miles back. Thanks, Mapquest!
That said, it was at least partly my fault we ended up at the wrong farm. The orchard was was clearly marked with an easy-to-read sign, which I had in fact seen. But we just drove past, because the address on the the street address on the sign didn't match the address on the directions. The sensible thing would have been to turn in there anyway.
Oh well. The important thing is that we did eventually find it, and we all got to eat yummy apples and take a hayride around the farm and just generally enjoy being outside on a beautiful fall day, and I call that a success.