A cup of tea with Margo

This blog is all about the things in life so many of us need to slow down and enjoy, such as, family, the seasons, food, music, and whatever else causes inspiration. I hope to write as often as I can and it is my desire for you to be able to take a break and enjoy my entries with a cup of tea.

Johnny Appleseed...Legend or Real?? RSS

  Friday, October 14, 2011
Here in Oklahoma we love a good yarn. We also love stories about people who walk to the beat of their own drum and have built a legacy for our country.

One of our most colorful and much-loved American legends is Johnny Appleseed. I just recently googled his story and thought you might like to hear it.

Believe it or not, he was an actual person, whose real name was John Chapman. Born in 1774 in Massachusetts, he was the son of a farmer and revolutionary war soldier. His mother died of tuberculosis during the war.
Beginning in his youth, he spent much of his time apprenticed to an apple orchard, learning all about apples. 


That spawned a dream in him to travel to the American frontier and plant apple trees for profit and to give away, so that communities in the regions could grow and have apples as part of their food supply. 


Chapman was a very plain spoken man who lived a very simple life and loved to live off the land. It’s said he wore clothes made of potato sacks and used a cooking pot for a hat. Can you imagine?

So, for nearly 50 years, he planted apple orchards in the wilds of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Kentucky, anywhere he thought towns might spring up. Today, these are rich apple growing regions. He died of pneumonia in 1845 at the home of a friend and is buried in Indiana. 


Next time you eat an apple, think about this legendary frontiersman and how he seeded and spread his apple trees around the country so people could enjoy this great tasting fruit. Hmmmm... now, I’m in the mood for apple pie.

Margo

Gathering Leaves RSS

  Sunday, October 02, 2011

The trees will soon be changing color and then losing their leaves to the ground.

There’s just something about those fallen leaves, crackling under foot that feeds my lifelong memories. I can remember so easily gathering them up into piles as a child then jumping into them. It was so much fun.

I also loved picking up leaves by color and using them to make decorations. Each leaf was so different than the next. Maple leaves were the best, full of vibrant colors and rich texture.  I can still see my collection and how proud I was of what I had found.

Often I think gathering leaves is like gathering memories. They’re all scattered about and waiting for us to pick them up and put them in order. We have to make the effort to bend down and make good use of them. Otherwise, they lay lifeless before us without real purpose.

Memories will always tell a story about us if we let them. We know each one by sight and color and the smell. In a heap, they paint a picture of who we are and where we come from. We should always praise God for them.

I, for one, have decided to gather memories like I do the leaves. I’ll enjoy them while they’re here if only for a time.

Without me even wishing them to, they fall and keep coming. Cascading down. Tree by tree, leaf by leaf. Never ceasing to drop until that final season.

They won’t quit until the branches become bare and fruitless, stripped of life... and the cold finally arrives. Winter will set in...it always does.

And, try as I might... I’ll look and find no more leaves to gather.

Margo