What’s To Like About Rockford: Edward’s Apple Orchard

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My heaven smells like an apple orchard…

Autumn means apples, and no October is complete without a trip to Edward’s Apple Orchard . It’s a family affair and we always leave laden with a few bags of fresh tangy apples (among other things). Lots of fun places for the kids to explore, including a petting zoo, pony rides, wooden train, and several tractors sunk into the earth. One of my daughter’s favorites this year was this cute guy. . .

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And just in case you didn’t believe me about the tractors…

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Now Edward’s is not the only apple orchard around Rockford and I would be remiss if I did not mention Curran’s Apple Orchard. They have fun things to do too, and *whispers* I like their apple donuts just a little better. The best thing to do is go to both places and decide for yourself 🙂 Continue reading

Friendship, it’s a powerful thing

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Umm, yeah. Your eyes do not deceive you. It’s a picture of a pair of slugs hanging out on a leaf . . . inside a pickle jar that my daughter made into a terrarium.

They were captured separately, but they must have discovered they have a lot in common because they are now inseparable. There are other slugs in the jar, but these two, they just seem to click. My daughter says they’ve made a “love connection.”

I haven’t observed any slug lovin’ (not sure I’d recognize gastropod mollusk mating if I saw it), but they sure do like to spend time together. If one climbs up the side of the jar, the other soon joins him (her, it). When one chows on one side of a leaf, the other can be seen chowing on the other side.

Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing these poor slugs. I like to write about friendship, especially when it’s found in unusual places or between unusual participants. I like to read about friendship too. One of my absolute favorite books I read this year was The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater which shows the intense friendship between a boy and his man-eating horse (I know there’s more to the book, but that’s my favorite part). So maybe I’m projecting what I want to see.

What do you think?

img_2859blog.JPGPhotos 10/2/12 Karin Blaski