Sweet as Pie

After one CRAZY week...I needed some normalcy. I was home early today because I had a bucket truck in my back yard trimming a tree that had shed a limb on my neighbor's garage roof this week. I had been in my back yard last Saturday and I heard this eerie deep shriek from up in the very top on the only tree I have in my back yard. The noise was the beginning of the situation that dominated my week. It did little roof damage, broke my fence and left a nasty mess. And dealing with my insurance company for the first time has been interesting to say the least.

But since my entire week was consumed with negotiations and explanations I was looking for a distraction that would swirl my weekend back to normal. So I looked around for a project this afternoon, since that's what usually distracts me. I thought about drawing or working on one of many unfinished paintings but I talked myself out of those ideas. So I remebered that my mother handed me a bag of home-grown apples and suggested that they would be great for a pie. Now, my mom has handed me countless bags of apples over the years with the same instruction - I just never have had the urge to go home a bake a home-made pie. But this afternoon my feelings were different. I felt the urge to bake.

So, as I sat down and peeled and sugared each apple with care, the memories of being a child and watching my mother do the very same thing started coming back. I traced the steps that she had showed me and found peace in rolling out pie dough. I buttered and folded the crusts and layered the top with small pieces of butter. I was so content and happy with myself that as soon as the timer went off I jumped and went to inspect my finished masterpiece.

Now, I am sitting watching it rain on my newly trimmed sweet gum tree and I'm slicing into my warm desert, with a tall glass of milk. Satchel's at my bare feet and everything seems less stressful and the world is a little more sweet.