The foothills of the Appalachians were a good place for my first walks. In the woods around the Youghiogheny River, trees belonged to everyone. Walking to one particular tree was an annual tradition. On a Saturday in the Fall, when he didn't have to work, Whistle Lew grabbed his duffel bag he had brought home when discharged after WWII and his first born son as he headed up the hill.
I could never have found this tree but somehow we always did. When it appeared I was always in awe. Every branch was heavy with ripe apples. We harvested in a special way. Daddy climbed the tree and starting with the lowest branches, threw the apples down to me. I stood under the limbs with my leather mitt.
When I had caught enough apples to fill the entire duffel, he picked a few more for eating on the walk home. I was never able to carry the load but Whistle Lew flung it over his shoulder and on his back as we walked across and down the hill. We laughed about all the "pop flies" I had caught and decided how much apple sauce and how many apple pies Mum would make. We ate our extra apples before we got home. Kind of our own little unspoken secret. The foothills of the Appalachians were a good place for my first walks.
You don't need to write down everything that happens on a walk but be careful to remember the good stuff.
I could never have found this tree but somehow we always did. When it appeared I was always in awe. Every branch was heavy with ripe apples. We harvested in a special way. Daddy climbed the tree and starting with the lowest branches, threw the apples down to me. I stood under the limbs with my leather mitt.
When I had caught enough apples to fill the entire duffel, he picked a few more for eating on the walk home. I was never able to carry the load but Whistle Lew flung it over his shoulder and on his back as we walked across and down the hill. We laughed about all the "pop flies" I had caught and decided how much apple sauce and how many apple pies Mum would make. We ate our extra apples before we got home. Kind of our own little unspoken secret. The foothills of the Appalachians were a good place for my first walks.
You don't need to write down everything that happens on a walk but be careful to remember the good stuff.
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