CrimsonBand of Leave

I'll bet I got a lot of steps yesterday, but since I plugged my Fitbit in to charge and then forgot to put it back on, we'll never know. To make a long story short, the kids did arrive around midnight on Friday. And I got my wish! I had been feeling a little sad that they were staying in a hotel, even though I totally understand why one might wish to, particularly when pregnant. But they ended up staying with us instead, much to my delight. Yesterday, everyone slept late, and then we had a light breakfast and went to an apple orchard, where we picked bags of apples. So many apples! I have a giant bowl of apples of all different colors. I didn't worry too much about what kinds they were, just picked whatever looked good and was reachable. I have to say, I don't like the way orchards are set up these days. The trees are basically espaliered on a framework of wires. The poor things look imprisoned. I'm sure it's efficient, but it's wretched and not at all like the lovely shade of the old-fashioned orchards one remembers. It's not an experience I would like to repeat, because it made me sad to see the trees like that. The sheer number of people there was surprising. We had to stand in line for quite awhile to go inside the barn, and this was a little hard on the Sparrowhawk. Seen in line for the U-pick: a woman wearing black faux leather leggings, heels, and a matching jacket with faux fur sleeves. As one does when going out to perform an agricultural ritual. I felt underdressed.

Once inside, we obtained cider and doughnuts, and a cherry pie. We went home and took a little break, then had a grand dinner at the tapas restaurant. Dr. Nurse and Dr. Music got around our refusal to take payment for watching Bird Baby by giving the Sparrowhawk a generous gift certificate to the restaurant for his birthday, and this seemed a fine occasion to use it.

This morning, the kids slept a little late, which gave me an opportunity to sear the pork roast and pop it in the oven. The Sparrowhawk made them his excellent scrambled eggs for breakfast, accompanied by doughnuts, of course. We took a pleasant walk on the woodsy trail and around the neighborhood, and they looked at old pictures of the Philosopher as a baby. They selected a few books from our stash to take home for the new generation. By dinner time, the pork roast had become pulled pork with barbecue sauce. We also had morel soup with little noodles, mashed potatoes, buns for the pulled pork sandwiches, pickles, cole slaw, mixed beans from the farmers market, and a fancy salad with pears, grapes, chopped nuts and dried cherries mixed with the lettuce and a maple vinaigrette. This recipe claims it is the "best" pulled pork recipe, and they may actually be right. It was lovely to see the happy couple. The Lovely Friend is looking more lovely than ever. Pregnancy seems to agree with her. We are so excited for January.