Fall is in the air...along with the smells of apple crisp!

There's a nip in the air and the leaves are starting to change colors!  My favorite season is here!  Time to break out the warmer jackets, sweaters and jeans.  Put away the Crocs, break out the soccer cleats!  It's time for planning apple and pumpkin picking trips, playing in leaf piles, crunching leaves and apples, starting to settle in for the colder months and  baking all things apple.  Notice a theme in that paragraph?

Years ago, when my husband and I lived in Detroit, we started the yearly tradition of apple and pumpkin picking.  There have been a couple of years where, for one reason or another, we have not been able to actually pick our apples and pumpkins from the orchard or field.  For example: last year, my husband was not feeling 100%, and we had a nursing 2 month old ("You can go apple picking with a nursing 2 month old!", you say?  Read on).  But, we have still gone to a stand or apple store to gather our bounty for the annual apple creations.  This year, we're hoping to visit a place in OH that has both U-pick apples AND pumpkins (the closest ones in PA are about an hour and a half away! See where the nursing 2 month old bit could be a bit of an issue?).  And oh boy and am I looking forward to the treats we'll make with those apples!  Apple sauce!  Apple fritters!  Apple muffins!  And my favorite:  Apple crisp!  Tender apples, warm and gooey, with a sweet, brown sugary crunch on top.  Perfect right out of the oven for desert, or warmed in the microwave for breakfast.  Can. Not. Be. Beat.  I'd love to share the recipe with you, but I'm afraid I'd risk copyright infringement.  You'll just have to take my word for it! :o)

We got this fantastic little book at an orchard we went to in Michigan (I don't remember the name of it, sorry!) that has our tried and true recipes that we use every year.  Needless to say, it is well loved and our favorites are marked with sticky notes.  Definitely a book to hand down. Here's the name of the cookbook:  Apples!  Apples!  Apples!  Cooking with Apples by M. Mosley, published and distributed by Hearts & Tummies Cookbook Co. (a division of Quixote Press).  You may be able to find it at your local orchard!

Happy apple and pumpkin picking!

Theatre Widow

Three to four times a school year, and sometimes 2 - 3 months a summer, I become what is known as a "Theatre Widow".  What is a theatre widow (or widower, but for the sake of this blog, we'll use widow)? A theatre widow is a woman (or man, if it's widower) who is in a significant relationship with a person who is in the theatre business.  "How does just that fact alone widow you?", you ask?  When a show is close to premiering, cast, crew and production staff go into what is called "Tech Week(s)".  This is where they hammer out all the final details of the performance: any changes to stage blocking, the lights are hung and focused, set pieces are completed (some are drying as the opening curtain rises), sound cues are checked and rehearsals go into overtime as everyone works to make sure all the components work together well.  This takes hours.  Theatre is not a 9 - 5 gig.  So, during those time of tech hell, my husband is virtually invisible.  We'll see him in the morning as we're getting ready and that's the last time the kids will see him before the following morning.  I'm lucky if I see him before I go to bed!  He's not here = I'm theatre widowed.  As my background is also in theatre, I have experienced all facets of production and tech as well, so I know what to expect and what's going on, but it certainly doesn't make me miss him any less.

Currently, I am theatre widowed.  And I'm going back to work, which means the baby has started day care.  And (FINALLY) our son starts back to school on Monday, but I had to have someone watch him this week, so I had to take him there too.  This mama has been busting her hump this week (and I will most of next week too), single-handedly, and all the stuff that needs to get done, mostly got done (finding our son's lost shin guard did not happen, much to husband's chagrin).  Kids were fed, clothed, bathed, and entertained; dishes got done; and even some laundry made it through the washer AND dryer.  However, the house is in somewhat of a disarray.  I have never claimed to be the best Susie Homemaker, even when husband is home!  I feel for the mamas who are single all the time.  These times make me grateful for all the times I'm not widowed, but they also remind and empower me that I can do it.  I may not be the perfect theatre widow/single mom, but I do the best I can, all in the name of entertainment.

So, next time you go to see a show: high school (don't forget all those teachers who take time away from their families to work with those kids!), college, community, regional, professional, whatever, think about those who have worked tirelessly to entertain you, and their families who have not seen them for any significant amount of time.  Yes, it's a life choice, but so is any career.  And my husband loves it.  I get bragging rights: "Yes, my husband designed the show!  I'm so glad you enjoyed it!"  Enjoy the show!