I Love You, A Bushel and a Peck

A couple of weeks ago, the hubby and I drove over to Appletown in Lincoln, AR.  It was an absolutely beautiful fall day so we took the convertible and dropped the top when we turned up north from Alma, AR.  If you haven't been to Fayetteville, AR, in a while, you would not recognize the place; the city of the University of AR, the hubby's almamater.  Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers have all grown together into one big metroplex. 

Our main objective was to get some apples, and apples we found.  We picked up a peck of Jonathan and a peck of Red Delicious, both grown in their orchards.  You should pop over to AR to get some apples, but you'd better hurry.  The stands usually close by the end of October.

Visiting Appletown is a tradition that goes back to when my kids were little, and having a free glass of their cider was the highlight of their trip.  Appletown sure knew what they were doing offering the free cider for everybody has to buy a gallon or two and we were no exception.

Several times we made this same trip with Mom and Dad, but back then we would also include a trip to the restaurant across the road for a sandwich which was priced by the ounce, AND an apple dumpling with a dip of ice cream.  Sadly, the place is closed now.  What a fun time and lots of good memories for my family of simple pleasures. 

You are going to love this.  The hubby and I stopped at a local favorite restaurant, the AQ Chicken House, and the chicken was absolutely delicious as usual.  Just a few feet from our table were two well dressed men and a woman in, I am guessing, their late 70s or early 80s.  The more they talked, the more we started listening.  The more they talked, the more our mouths dropped open.  Well not really, we just rolled our eyes at each other, and burst out laughing as soon as we hit the door.  From them we learned that Prince Charles will not be king of England because his first wife ran around on him and, of course, the monarch can't have that.  Also, did you know that when Prince William takes over the throne (remember he will bypass Charles because of his mother) he can take over the government if he wants?  Also, Queen Elizabeth can't take over the government because she is a woman and a woman cannot control the government.  (This conversation provided us plenty to talk about for the next 30 minutes.  And these people have been voting for the last 50 years....go figure!)   

Memory:  Most of our trips included the Prairie Grove Battlefield, outside Fayetteville; a learning experience for our kids and for me, too, since I sure didn't learn much in History class.  On one of our fall foliage trips, we stopped to visit the battlefield, and as we pulled into our parking space, we were shocked to find my brother and his family just on the other side of the fence.  They were just as surprised as we were.  There were no cell phones back then and neither one of us knew the other was within 400 miles of the place and to both show up at the same exact time was unexpected to say the least.  

Note:  Bushel and pecks are not in my vocabulary much anymore, but as a former country girl I know what they are, at least.  I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck.  Here is a Doris Day version of the song mom used to sing to us.  I love you, a bushel and a peck.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNjv1WDGxt8