Remember Mailboxes On A Pole?

“Grandma, what are these? They’re pretty.”

“They’re mailboxes. It’s how people used to get their letters, bills and junk mail. But now we get everything electronically. They look like lunchboxes, don’t they?”

“What’s a lunchbox?”

“A lunchbox is what kids used to pack their sandwiches in so they could take their lunch to school and not have to pay for 25%-nutritious cafeteria food.”

“Where did they put the lunchboxes … I mean, mailboxes?”

“At the end of our driveways. I remember having to walk almost 15 feet to get to ours. Sometimes I’d have to brave heavy winds and snow. If it rained, I’d get my hair wet. Winter was the worst. I’d have to put on my coat and gloves. You kids today don’t realize how lucky you have it. When I was your age, we didn’t have email. We had to lick a stamp and put it on an envelope, then lick the envelope flap to seal it shut. And that was for each letter and each bill! Then we’d have to put the flag up on the mailbox so the postman knew we had outgoing mail. But we weren’t afraid of hard work back then.”

“Gross, Grandma. I can’t imagine licking my emails. But getting a real letter that I had to open with my hands sounds kinda neat, as long as I could text back and save buying one of those little, uh ...”

"Stamps."

Before Apple, There Were Apples.

No deep meaning in my post this week, other than to say that autumn in New England is a wonderful, crispy-crunchy time of year as far as apples go.

I’m not talking about the Apple computer brand with the ubiquitous chomped logo.

I’m talking about an Ida Red, a Honey Crisp and a juicy Fuji.

A bright-red Rome, a sweet Liberty, a bold Jonagold!

Mom’s Apple Crisp, Hot Buttered Cider and Brown Sugar Apple Pie.

I have my aye on these apples.