Hello ,
Until this year I didn't really know when the apple harvest (1) began. However, it became very clear to me a couple of months ago.
Let me explain...
At the end of August, one of the people (the caretaker (2)!) who lives in my building knocked on my door. He was carrying a large shopping bag. On entering my flat, he went to my window and started making a row of apples on the window sill (3).
He explained that he had picked a heap of them (too many for him and his wife), but they still needed to ripen (4) a bit. I ended up with a line of sixteen apples - which in my world is a lot!
They sat there for a week or so until I realised one of them was half rotten. So I threw that one away and cooked some of the rest.
A few days later, I was about to cook some more when my telephone rang. It was a friend inviting me to lunch the next day. Aha! An apple project! That day I used more of them in an apple cake, which I took along to the lunch!
I had just about finished all the sixteen apples when I saw my neighbour again, and this time also his wife. They had been out picking apples.
I ended up with more apples, but just a handful. That was easier to deal with because I could eat them without cooking them - and I did.
Then I went on my hiking holiday. On the second day, as I walked through a field, I went past an apple tree. All the apples were on the ground. Most were either rotten or partly eaten, but one was in perfect condition. I picked it up and took it with me.
Then one night last week, I arrived home after a long day at work. Sitting on my doormat were three more apples. Smiling, I picked them up and guessed I needed to thank my neighbour - again.
How about you, ? Have you had friends or family give you apples fresh from the tree? Did they give you so many you didn't know what to do with them all? Let me know....
I hope everything's apples (5) for you this week,
Andrea
(1) harvest - the time when you pick fruit and vegetables to use or store them. It's also the action of picking the fruit or vegetables - I harvested all the beans last week.
(2) caretaker - person who does small jobs around the building and organises for large jobs to be done (American English - janitor, German - Hausmeister)
(3) window sill - the flat part at the bottom of a window, where you can sit things (often decorations or plants)
(4) ripen - become ready to eat, change so that they aren't green anymore
(5) everything's apples - everything goes fine/OK. She'll be apples - everything'll be OK. (This might just be something we said in our local area ...)
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