I'm not totally off topic here, because it does tie in with apples, but recently I was reading a book by Louise Erdrich called The Painted Drum. It was interesting and beautifully written, and I found this passage that I loved so dearly that I read it over and over. It gave me pause. The words ebbed and flowed through me like soothing tides. I wanted to share it with you.
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.
Go ahead. Read it again. I did. I read it over and over. Each time I read it, it seemed to grow more poignant. This fall? I'm going to sit by the apple tree and taste as many as I can.
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45 comments:
Wow, what a beautiful sentiment! Here's to an abundant harvest!
I love the quote. I think I will need to read it again and again to get all that it is saying.
Oh my gosh Lisa I read this over and over it is so true I really must find that book now. I too will be sitting under and apple tree trying as many as I can. Life is great isn't it? B
Wow that's a great story. True if you think about it
That is so true. I can relate to it so much. Thank you, Lisa.
I can tell you when our apple tree was standing I let a lot more go to waste then I tasted. Since losing mom I have learned that time is so precious. To do and be the most with what you have been given.
oh that baby apple is so cute and i love that passage you chose!
Love the quote! And on the practical side, have you heard of Surround? It's clay-based, so it's good for organic growing, and is supposed to prevent your tree from becomming an insect hotel. They have it at Edible Landscaping in Afton, but it can also be ordered online. (Hmmm...maybe I need to do a post on it!)
I haven't yet read this.... sounds like something I need to read.
Your apples look like they might do okay. We had such a late winter storm here that I am not sure how our apples fared in Pa.
Interesting post this morning, Lisa.
I hope your apple tree produces some apples for you to savor! :)
love the quote! so very true.
sounds like an inspirational book.
i am going to put this on my to-read list.
thanks, lisa.
have a great day!
Can't wait to see the fruits of your labor on your apple tree. That passage gave me goosebumps! I read it. read it again. and again. This is something I'll save to post where I can read this daily. My heart has been hurting lately an this touched me. Thank you for sharing!
xo,
Allison
http://barretts1234.blogspot.com/
like the quote, but in keeping with "Everything I Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten," it sounds like another version of one of my favorites, "The Velveteen Rabbit."
Sounds like a good book. And, I bet you have apples a-plenty!
Yup, I agree, that is a powerful passage you quoted. I'll have to put that book on my reading list.
SO jealous! I wish we had an apple tree! How fun for your boys to be able to pick them. My kids would love that.
i have read that quote before. and it resonated with me, too.
ooohhh lisa, i read it over and over. i printed it out, to give to my mom. my dad passed recently!!
i have heard that fruit trees have one good year, then one bad, always that cycle. it's the same with trees that flower, anyway, that's what i've heard!!
Wow, those are powerful words and thoughts...
Do you spray your trees? Just curious.
She's a lush writer, don't you think?
I'm not kidding, when I got to the last part...I literally have big chills all up my neck and arms, and now have tears in my eyes. Thanks.
I love apples.
Oh Lisa - THANK YOU for sharing that today!
Later, when I am done with chores, I will sit and admire my apple tree and your lovely passage with be with me.
very nice!... hope you get lots of apples... my trees don't even have leaves yet:)
We planted a mini-orchard when we moved here (Missouri). We had a very large orchard in Ohio. Our apples are not producing :-( We've had peaches and nectarines, but the apples are giving us fits!
A beautiful passage, Lisa. I could relate to it. I love the image of sitting by the apple tree and the apples dropping in heaps. So much sweetness in nature and in life . . . thank you for sharing this!
I hope your apples do well this year. It's amazing the number of lessons we can learn from nature around us. Beautiful quote.
What a beautiful passage! I love it, thank you for sharing. I always feel like I find these things at the right times.
My folks had a farm when I was a young girl and we had an apple orchard at the top of the ridge. We would climb the trees in the fall and shake, shake, shake...then chase the apples as they rolled down the side of the mountain :)
This is so nice to watch them grow...hoping for many apples
That is THE BEST!...I'm coming back to copy it! Meanwhile good luck with the tree!...:)JP
What a beautiful passage Miss Lisa. Thanks for remind us to live to the max baby!!!
Have a bountifully blessed day my friend! :o)
Fresh apples are so delicious! I'm cheering your little apple on. I have a natural worm deterrent on my blog if you want to check it out. Just type in gardening in the search box...
PS. It was too hard to find my link the way I told you, so here is a direct link to worm free apples without chemicals...
http://riseaboveyourlimits.blogspot.com/2011/05/worm-free-apples-without-chemicals.html
Those are some very beautiful words and something to give great thought to Lisa! Thanks for sharing! I hope you get lots and lots of apples this year!
Love this post, Lisa. When thinking about an apple tree and all of the apples falling off----we are supposed to taste the apples, try new things, experience life---taste as much of life as we can!!!! Love it!
Sounds like a good book...
Hugs,
Betsy
What a beautiful and thought provoking sentiment- thanks for sharing! Hope the bugs leave your tree alone this year.
I read it again and again too-it's so beautiful and true!
I have an apple tree too, and if it doesn't produce many apples this year I will still appreciate it now:)
What a great passage! I sure can't wait to read this book! (Just a couple more weeks of school, and I'll have time to read for fun!)
Beautiful words. So thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing. Hope you get to enjoy all the apples your heart desires. :)
We had one very small apple tree in the backyard when we moved here and between the deer, the gypsy moths and our dogs, the bark was stripped and it died. Sure did love it's blossoms in the springtime.
I love,love that excerpt! It means so much to me at this point in my life. Thank you very much for sharing it.
I just planted several fruit trees and I definitely intend to sit among them and ponder...
Cool quote btw!
I really wanted to plant some apple trees this year, but decided to wait until next year. What kind do you have? I'm hoping to keep my trees completely organic. :)
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