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
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