I was worried about the loons that live on our lake last night when I went to bed. We had been at the cabin since noon. After dinner, we took a canoe ride around the lake, before dusk. Dusk is typically the time we can see loons floating and diving on our lake. It is…
responsibility
Poetry Friday: The Shot
During March, my participation in the Slice of Life Story Challenge has limited my Poetry Friday entries. I miss the community of poets I’ve come to know over the last year on Poetry Friday. So, today, I wrote two posts – one very brief post of the Slice of Life Story Challenge and one for…
‘ Shroom Foraging
Two years ago, when I worked for a local land trust, I had to organize education and outreach events. One such event, was Spring Foraging. Okay, it sounded fun but I had never foraged! Luckily, our local university had a mycology club and the student president was more than agreeable to lead the foraging hike…
Elements of Style
When you write nearly every day for four years, naturally you develop a style. Over my 1,334 posts since February of 2017, I’ve shared many opinions, moments, and memories. My topics vary from education to dieting, from travel and book reviews, to lamenting the broken systems of our society today, such as healthcare, education, and…
Vaccine Matters: Part II
Mid-January, I traveled to New York with my husband to see my parents. They are in their mid-80’s, still living in their own home. The day we arrived, New York had just opened vaccinations for group 1b – those 75 and older. Much of my time there was spent trying to secure vaccine appointments for…
Slice of Life Story Challenge 2021: Four Years Later & Blog Post 1,320
Today, is my one thousandth, three hundredth, and twentieth blog post! That’s right I’ve made 1,320 posts to The Apples In My Orchard! It all started just before the Slice of Life Story Challenge in 2017. I opened my blog during the last week in February to test the waters and be ready to write…
Slice of Life Tuesday: Provocation & Acceleration, Part I
One of my goals for this year is to ramp up my blog readership to at least fifty visitors a day. This month, February – a short month, that goal will be hard to reach. I was on target until a few days ago when I noted a failure to reach the previously attainable number….
The Vaccine Rollout Mess
It’s two weeks after I last wrote about the poor vaccination roll out in New York State. I live in Wisconsin but was in New York visiting my parents when they opened vaccine registration to group 1B. My parents are still awaiting an appointment. I’ve checked EVERY day for the last 19 days and have…
Educational Leadership on the Line
In a few hours, the League of Women Voters in our area will host a candidate forum for those running for our local school board. As you can imagine, it has been a challenging year and it will be an interesting forum to watch. I intend to do so. Rarely, do I post more than…
Have You Traveled for Pleasure this Year?
Next week marks the one year anniversary of our last vacation. The second week of February 2020, my husband and I went on a trip for pleasure! We went to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a week. It was his choice of venue and the kick off (we thought) to years of travelling as a…










