Autumn is all around us...

...and since I have gotten the urge to bake pies probably about once an hour for the past few weeks, we decided it was time to do something about that.

We took a quick trip to Julian (in the East County area of San Diego), and enjoyed the scenery along the way. Every time we drive somewhere like this - the countryside, somewhat removed from the city and even the suburbs, it makes me ask myself, "Could I live out here?" Now, probably some of the inspiration for the question is because one can hardly help but notice how much cheaper the real estate is out here and also just how beautiful it is; but also because it makes me question the need and the desire to live "in the middle of everything". Every time we think about where we'd like to "settle down", we ask ourselves how anybody can possibly go about answering that question.


Do we choose to live near family? Well, if you're like most Americans these days, that's no easy task. My family is scattered around the world in such a way that it would be impossible to live near more than a few individuals in any one place.

Do we choose to live where there are people with shared interests? Do we settle down where there are lots of things going on that we know we enjoy (concerts, farmers' markets, theatre, museums, cultural events, etc)? Should we pick a place that has good schools & hospitals, fair real estate prices, or low taxes? Do we look for a place that makes us say "Wow, that's beautiful!" everyday? What about our friends?

I know that we are an increasingly globalized species; we humans fly about the world almost on a whim these days, and it seems that only in a few small towns do families stay close by with one another for any length of time... and it makes me wonder so, so many things.

Well, our trip to Julian came and went, and I'm no closer to answering any of those questions for myself. But we did come home with a bag of assorted apples and I got to satisfy my pie-making urge (at least for a while!). Interestingly, the orchard was all but picked clean of apples by the time we got there; proof that our society is so starved for a connection with nature that we flock en masse to the orchard, willing to pay $10 for the experience of picking our own fruit, even when we are told by a rather grumpy ranch owner that she could not guarantee we'd find any apples out there.Also, we had to sign a form promising not to throw any apples or hit the apple trees with sticks. Fine.

We ended up settling for the experience of picking one or two apples from the trees, and then filling our bag with apples that had already been harvested earlier. They were, indeed, delicious.