moonfrog –

Fall has arrived with its cold mornings. The apples are ripe, and it is time to make applesauce and pies. Today I picked half the apples from our family’s trees. There are still yellow delicious to pick later. A friend has also asked us to pick his apples and that will take place tomorrow.

Then it is time to cook them. Applesauce is on the list, as well as a pie or two. I’m thinking about canning some sliced apples to use in pies later. Got any good recipes or ideas for these beauties? I’d like to try something new. I’ve done lots of canning and baking and I’m a bit worn out on the old standards.

Here’s the little girl who helped me pick the apples. She ran around chasing apples, pulling my clothes, and biting my toes. Now she’s tuckered out. She belongs to a friend who was helping with the yardwork.

So I’ve had some fresh air, exercise, and a good puppy fix. Much better than yesterday, when I felt ill all day. I think we ate something disagreeable on our way home from Reno. Yuck!

Enough of that –it is finally time to announce some winners! I’ll start with the Moving/Anniversary Party prizes today. The guesses on the reading contest will be posted sometime Thursday.

First, I want to thank you all for helping me celebrate this move and my first year of blogging. It has been great fun for me, even if I was running around the countryside most of the time. My apologies to the people who posted in the last two days. My hotel would not let me email out and I wasn’t able to reply to many comments. I really did appreciate all your comments and well-wishes. Thanks!

Now…for the prizes. There are eight of them, so I drew eight names. The first winner whose name was drawn will pick the prize that suits her best. Each one after that will choose in order. That means it will take a while, but I would rather have someone choose something that would be useful than just assign prizes willy-nilly.

Winner #1 is Sallee of KnitNana! Congratulations! She will have first pick. After that, in order: Karen S. of Tangles, Ariel of Stariel Knits, Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos, Lorinda of Redhead Ramblings, Lori of Starz Above, Marji of Fiber Arts Afloat, and Adrienne, aka Pixie Girl.

I wish there were prizes for everyone, but these are the lucky ones this time around. I will be emailing each one of you after the one before you makes her choice. I hope to be done by Thursday since I’ll be out of town one last weekend. If you don’t hear from me, I’ll catch up to you early next week. Thanks so much to all of you for playing!

Leave me your secret (or not so secret) apple-cooking tips and check back on Thursday for the Mark Twain Reading contest winner.