This Book Is Sooooo Good!

I bought 2 of Randy Alcorn's fiction books - "The Edge of Eternity" and "Safely Home."

The first book I read the whole way through in one day. The other was a little slow starting, but once you get into it, it's hard to lay it down. If you can imagine this! I had to tear myself away from it to get on the internet to get up to date.

The first book is somewhat of a allegory, a sort-of modern "Pilgrim's Progress," that the main character went through in a difficult time in his life. He didn't start out on his journey as a Christian, but found Christ while on it.

The second book depicts the persecuted church in China. It goes into such detail that you think the author must have been there and seen (for all I know, he may have been, or he may have had information from people who did). It was very realistic. But it has little bits here and there of people already in Heaven watching with the Lord as the story unfolds, with the frequent refrain, "How long, oh, Lord?" (Quotation from the saints "under the altar" in Revelation). It also has the view of a man in the afterlife who never repented. It doesn't name him, but in the context, it clearly refers to Mao Tse Tung.

I will certainly buy more of Alcorn's fiction!

I was introduced to Randy Alcorn when my great-niece Kathryn recommended his non-fiction book, Heaven. I fully intended to buy a copy of it, then our Sunday School class got it and we are working our way through it. It has a study guide available, but only the teachers have those in our Sunday School Class. I have already read that book in its entirety, and it inspired me to buy some of his fiction.

Drying Apples

I have 2 Northern Spy trees. These apples are great for apple pies. Every year that I have a decent crop, I can apple pie filling. Then, any time during the year, when I want a pie, I just have to make (or buy) the pie crusts, and just dump the filling in and seal and bake them.

One year, we had a lot of early windfall apples, and I kept them picked up. They weren’t quite ripe enough to eat, nor did I get enough at one time to make a canner load. So I sliced them, and froze them. Eventually, I used them to make apple cobbler. The last batch of them (already almost 3 years old) I used about a month or so ago. As I had them setting out to thaw, I would periodically pull a piece off and eat it. I realized that it tasted a lot like dried apples, and thought, “I’ve got to get a food dehydrator, and dry some apples this year.” The crop looks to be pretty abundant this year, so there will be plenty to can, and I can still dry some. So, I got my food dehydrator last week. There are a few apples falling, but I’m not sure they’re really ripe enough to dry. I may try some of them anyway, to see how they turn out – when I get enough to load the dehydrator.

Now thinking about drying apples reminded me of a piece of doggerel my father quoted a couple of times. I couldn’t remember all of it, but I found it on the internet, and also a small write up on how it came about. At this link Overland Stage, scroll down to page 97 (don't worry, it's just one page, starts with Page 93). The little poem doesn’t have a specific author; my understanding of it is that it just sort-of grew – contributions by people who shared the sentiments thereof. And here is the little poem:

Dried Apple Pies

I loathe, abhor, detest, despise,
Abominate dried-apple pies.
I like good bread, I like good meat,
Or anything that's fit to eat;
But of all poor grub beneath the skies,
The poorest is dried apple pies.
Give me the toothache, or sore eyes,
But don't give me dried apple pies.
The farmer takes his gnarliest fruit,
'Tis wormy, bitter, and hard, to boot;
He leaves the hulls to make us cough,
And don't take half the peeling off.
Then on a dirty cord 'tis strung
And in a garret window hung,
And there it serves as roost for flies,
Until it's made up into pies.
Tread on my corns, or tell me lies,
But don't pass me dried-apple pies.

September Views

How many of you had to memorize this in school?

September

THE golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook.

From dewey lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.

But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.

'T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.

Helen Hunt Jackson

I only have 3 family birthdays on record for September. Note that I don't have a record of everyone's birthday. September 4th is the birthday of my great-niece Kathryn. She is not sure of the exact date of her birthday, since she was abandoned as an infant (adopted by my nephew at age 4), but it was near enough to September 4. Kathryn will be 24. September 26 is my grandson Christopher's birthday. He will be 27. The 27th is the birthday of my sister-in-law, Pat Harriff.