It’s that time of year again, when apples hang ripe on the bough and children return to school. My garden is not big enough to accommodate a full size apple tree but I have an ornamental crab apple, which is laden with fruit at the moment, later this will provide the birds with some food when the weather turns colder.
My memories of starting school and apples are inextricably linked, maybe because my old-fashioned Victorian style classroom had a wall frieze showing all the letters of the alphabet accompanied with a simple illustration. Every day we would recite, “A is for Apple, B is for Ball, C is for Cat….” whilst the teacher pointed to the appropriate place on the wall. I was fortunate enough to be able to go home for my “dinner” at midday. My father would be home also, he worked in a nearby paper mill, mum would have spent the morning cooking and baking to prepare a two-course meal and home made apple pie was often on the menu.
My apple illustration is taken from “An Illustrated Address Book” published by Blackie and Son Ltd. The other illustrations are by Walter Crane and can be found here, a marvelous treasure trove on the web.
We no longer have anyone in our household who will be returning to school this term, instead we are planning something very exciting, so until then I hope you all enjoy what is left of the summer and help yourself to another slice of apple pie.
