“The stripped and shapely
Maple grieves
The ghosts of her
Departed leaves.
The ground is hard,
As hard as stone.
The year is old,
The birds are flown.
And yet the world,
In its distress,
Displays a certain
Loveliness”
– John Updike, A Child’s Calendar

Haf’s Apple Orchard Photograph – Old Apple Tree
Walking through Haf’s Apple Orchard last month was a picnic of smells and color. Some trees seemed to be chosen for allowing dropped apples to remain on the ground. The smell of vinegar rose from these fallen apples and the bees were having a wonderful afternoon.
If you live near Haf’s, remember that apple season is not over in November. They have coolers kept at 35 degrees and all of the wonderful varieties are still for sale at prices less than the grocery stores. The comparison stops there as there is no comparison between taste and freshness-Haf’s is the winner in that category, also. All of the apples are marked by variety and purpose. My freezer is full of pies now. I look forward to baking one on a cold January and February night.
From where I sit in the dark shop late this afternoon, leaves are rattling down the sidewalk like old chicken bones. I’m still in the Autumn mode of enjoying mystery movies curled up in the chair with an old cotton blanket from the 1940s. Just as the movie begins, I take two out of the drier and curl up covered in soft, old cotton.
I finished three Christmas wreaths, two to sell in the shop and one to send my sister for the door of the post office where she is the postmistress. I made it from tiny envelopes stamped with dates ranging from the 1930s to the 1950s and Midwestern place names.
Before I leave you in November, I want to show you the Princess and the Pea bed I began last winter. I have 22 mattresses finished for this antique doll bed marked 1898. Using only ticking and other fabric made between 1930 and 1960, it is a like a small encyclopedia of fabric design.
If you are a local reader, remember that Haf’s sells bags of apples with tiny flaws (like a real apple) for 1.00 a pound! It’s fabulous!
~ Ginene
I love your wreath! I believe I will dig out envelopes from letters received from family in years past and make one. Thank you for a great idea!
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Barbara, have you ever seen one of those vintage collapsible wire egg baskets? That’s what I used as a form to slip the envelopes in. It made for a sturdy background. I think another sturdy background could be an old plate or a tray, anything flat really that one could hot glue the envelopes against. I’m glad you like my idea!
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I love the wreath! What a great idea! Would it work with the letters left in the envelopes because I have a year of letters from my husband and my letters to him when we were dating in 1966. I don’t want the letters separated from the envelopes. Also what did kind of form did you use? The doll bed and mattresses are precious!!
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Hi Pam, I’m so glad you like my idea. I used a collapsible wire egg basket, flattened out, which acted as a form to insert the envelopes in a sturdy place. But, I sure wouldn’t advise you to use your love letters because hot glue will get on them. I didn’t place the small ornaments just in the center. I scattered them over the envelopes, too.
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Oh shoot. Thought I had finally found something to do with them. Guess my kids will have to dispose of them!! LOL Thanks for the advice! No, I would not want glue on them.
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Wow, Ginene, what a clever, clever idea with the wreath AND the bed mattress! I love your sense of nostalgia for all things from the past. You would he such a wonderful friend and neighbor. I do wish we lived closer.
Have a wonderful weekend. I am having fun decorating for Christmas. Once I got all my fall things (truthfully, plus all the Panoply merchandise I’ve bought since March) organized and stored, I am moving along with my Christmas décor much more rythymically….while playing my holiday playlist.
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Hi Rita, There is nothing I would like better than to be your neighbor! I’ll start Monday on Christmatizing the shop and exterior of the building. There is a new shop next to me and the woman is fabulous in the decorating department. Things I throw out, she is taking and I am taking things she is throwing out. It is really working out well! My sister received the wreath and she likes it.
Ginene
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Oops, I forgot to mention the apple picking. Your varieties pictured look so wonderful, and reminded me… a couple weeks ago the West Virginia property on which the golden delicious apple was discovered and so named went up for auction (just about 20 miles from where I live). The tree is long gone, but the farmhouse and surrounding property were still intact. Great history!
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Oh, that is fascinating. I once ordered a Cox Pippin, I think it was, heritage apple tree and planted it on my farm in Northern Wisconsin. I don’t know what I was thinking of as the deer nibbled it down to the ground the next spring. There is a reason people do not landscape (at all) up there. ~Ginene
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Hello Ginene! I love your envelope wreath – such a fabulous idea, I’m sure they will sail quickly out of your shop! And of course I just love the tiny mattresses!! The princess and the Pea is MY fairy tale – I am superb at feeling the tiniest inconsistencies or intruders in shoes, in gloves, in seats for goodness sake. It’s a joke in my family that I could sleep atop a hundred mattresses and still feel the pea!! Your tiny mattresses made from old ticking is so creative and such a clever idea – How I should love to poke around in your shop!!
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I spent a few minutes last night rolling tiny peas out of clay. It was very satisfying, playing with clay. I think that is so funny about you and the tiny inconsistencies.
Ginene
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Ginene, I love how creative you are!!! I have never seen a wreath like yours and I just adore it!!! And I love apple picking. After festivals, it is my favorite fall activity. Thanks so much for sharing what it is like in your part of the world!!!
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Isn’t it fun to read about other bloggers lives? I read some blogs that I can’t even figure out what they are eating. It is just fascinating to read about weddings, celebrations, customs, and family gatherings. I still can’t get over some of the common sense things I see people doing routinely. I think, why aren’t we doing that here?
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Wonderful doll bed; lovely olfactory description and superb chicken bones simile
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Thank you for the nice compliment on my writing, friend Derrick.
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Great post, Ginene. Where do I begin? I too love the “rattling chicken bones” description. I love the thought of you pulling a homemade apple pie out of your freezer on a cold January night. I love your darling wreath and your oh-so-sweet doll bed mattresses. Oh, and I put my blankets in the dryer before curling up to a good book or movie too. It’s the best thing ever to take off the winter chill. Warm hugs.
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Ann, I am grateful for small luxuries, like homemade apple pie and a drier-warmed blanket when it is dark outside. Sometimes, it is just a favorite candle with a little flame.
Your pal,
Ginene
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Where to begin? I recall my sisters and I in our flannel gowns snuggled in bed whist my mother read to us about the princess and her bruised back. If only she had access to your adorable mattresses. That has to be the cutest thing I’ve seen in quite a while. …And then you go and top it off with the sweet sentimental wreath. Ginene, you have such a clever knack for seeing the possibilities.
Enjoy these toasty fall-ish nights, “winter is coming!” ~ Joanne
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Joanne, Thank you for the loveliest of comments. Do you remember how we would get all wrapped up during the night in those floor length flannel nightgowns? But, what a lovely way to go to sleep, wasn’t it, listening to something being read aloud? I listen to an audio book almost every night when I go to bed now. Sometimes, I don’t hear anything past the first five sentences.
~Ginene
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What a warm story.. There’s nothing like homemade apple pies.. I can imagine how good they’ll be. I love the creativity in your wreaths.. they are fantastic1
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I rolled the pie crust out on marble this time…the old standby pie rolling cloth is better, I think. If I make them all at once, I only have to wash that with the dishcloths and dish towels once. I wonder if women used to wash that every time they used it in the older days. They probably used it more often and didn’t wash and bleach it every time. Kind of a hassle….
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I’ve made pie crusts and they were indeed a hassle but when they come out right…you can’t beat the flavor. There’s a dessert (apple tart) I make….. extremely time consuming but my God it’s so so so good.. hope you enjoyed your dessert
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Wonderful cozy post but that wreath is absolutely awesome! Xo Johanna
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Thank you, Johanna. It is a cozy time. I think even the people in Florida would welcome a 50 degree day once in awhile.
~Ginene
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I love this post, Ginene…first the apples must be amazing and I can taste your apple pies. I have never seen a more unique and creative wreath…it is fabulous. The doll mattress is too cute…so much creativity!
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Thank you so much. I do make a good apple pie! I sure got a creative boost from people liking the wreath. We are social beings and it is so nice to learn that others like what we do. I appreciate it.
~Ginene
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Your knack of living well and appreciating all the wonderful things around you is a real inspiration to me.
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Beth, I wish you could have heard three 20-something young women discussing in the shop last weekend how “Antiques and vintage are becoming so in.” Yes!
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Your script and art project envelops the essence of fall. Just emits a wonderful sense of the season and all its glory.
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Thank you, Denise. I decorated the outside of the building today. It is raining. If the temperature drops it will be snowing before nightfall.
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Denise, it is eight hours later and it didn’t get cold and it is still raining. I have the window open in the kitchen. Air smells good!
Love, your sister,
G.
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Oh how i would like to have some old letters again to use for creating art and that adorable wreath of yours
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Hi Janice,
It would be lovely to make a wreath of envelopes sent from loved ones. Christmas cards are not sent as often as they used to be, but they would be particularly sweet with Christmas seals and Christmas stamps.
Your friend,
Ginene
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Ginene, Like everyone else, I was smitten with your wreath! I just never know what to expect when I check out your blog. Each time, I am drawn in and reminded to slow down and simply enjoye the little things in life. Thank you! (I have to admit that when I started reading, I thought,”I didn’t know Ginene wrote poetry also.” :)
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That’s funny, Deb! Oh, I wish I wrote poetry like that. Your blog inspires me and I always look forward to seeing a post in my mailbox.
Ginene
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Thank you for following me.
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Be still my wee furniture loving heart! That bed simply delights me. Also, I think there is nothing lovelier than an apple orchard.
I have now moved on to watching BBC “Wartime Farm” and “Restoration Home” on Youtube which I think you will also enjoy. We do not have cable because we find that most American tv is not for us. Stay snug!
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Laura, You and I are a couple of bonnet heads for sure!
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Nahlédla jsem na Broadway Rd-mapy Google, je to moje hobby, poznávat lidi a jejich život. Jejich vzpomínky na dětství, tvoje, i moje dětské sny o princezně na hrášku jsou stejné, i když my dvě, jsme tak daleko od sebe. Objímá Anna
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Anna, we are kindred spirits from across the world!
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