An Apple a Day

August is a busy month if you think about it. In some parts of the country kids are going back to school in other parts families are getting in those last minute vacations, it’s also the start of the apple harvesting season. Fall is typically the time we think of pumpkins, squash and corn harvests but just before all those wonderful veggies come in its apple season. Apples kind of transition us from one season to another, a delicious, wonderful smelling transition. The East coast hosts the start of the apple harvesting season; from Maine to North Carolina there are many places that have festivals to celebrate it. There are over 7,000 cultivars of the apple known. Apples and man have a long history together from the Garden of Eden; some believe it was an apple that Eve fed to Adam, to the three Golden Apples of Greek mythology.



They also really do have many heath benefits helping with everything from bone health to preventing asthma and cancer. Apples are rich in vitamin C and a great source of soluble fiber, they fit in any lunchbox and are a great snack you can take almost anywhere with you. I don’t know about you but just biting into a firm, juicy apple makes me happy.



Is there anything better than a hot apple pastry or cobbler loaded with cinnamon and brown sugar topped off with a big scoop of French vanilla ice cream to warm up a cool fall evening? I don’t think so and I’m a huge chocoholic. Apples are great for cooking in general; you can make pies, tarts, puffs, cookies you can bake them, fry them, freeze and sauté them make apple sauce, apple butter, apple jelly and preserves. You can cut them up and eat them with caramel or cover them with caramel and nuts, I know I sound a bit like that scene from the movie Forrest Gump where they are discussing shrimp, but apples are such a versatile fruit that almost anything you can think of to do with them is yummy. Apples were often served at the end of a meal because they were considered an aid to digestion and to be powerful aphrodisiac which made them a good transition into the evening ahead. So, after all this is it any wonder that apples have become one of the most loved fruits on earth?

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Jackson Hole is a big valley in Wyoming formed by the Grand Teton Mountain Range on the western side and the Gros Ventre range on the eastern side. It’s called a "hole" because in the early days trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to come down relatively, steep slopes, which gave the sensation of entering a hole. The valley is covered by sagebrush with the occasional tree dotted through it. The Tetons rise majestically from the valley floor, giving the area a dramatic effect no matter where in the valley you are when you see them. The Snake River runs through the valley from its beginning in Yellowstone in the north to Snake River Canyon at the southern tip of the valley. The average altitude of the valley is over 6,500 feet. Blacktail Butte is a prominent landform rising from the valley floor; it’s a principal landmark in Jackson Hole and has several large sedimentary rock outcroppings that are a popular place for recreational rock climbers.
The town of Jackson, Wyoming, is at the southern end and the valley is home to the National Elk Refuge, which has the largest elk herd on earth. This low-lying valley surrounded by mountains with its rivers and streams, is a great place to spot a lot of wildlife like; beaver, white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn antelope bighorn sheep and of course, Bison. It is also home to moose, elk, coyotes, wolves, Bald Eagles, owls and grizzly bears.



The area has become more mild west than wild west thanks to all the art galleries and high-end hotels, the city of Jackson is five miles from southern boundary of the Grand Teton National Park. The city is centered around a tree-shaded square highlighted by an arch of tangled elk antlers at each corner, it’s quite impressive. The boardwalks of the town are still the Old West style and there are many boutiques, galleries, restaurants and bars and an impressive global collection that rivals Cody's Buffalo Bill Historical Center for best museum in the region. They still, however offer stagecoach rides and host several rodeos in the year, so all the ‘wild’ isn’t completely lost.
Winters here are harsh but beautiful; time may be spent taking a horse-drawn sleigh ride among a 7000-strong herd of elk, skiing, even night skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling are also popular.
Summer however is the busiest time of the year in this region, with people taking road trips to both the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. The resorts such as Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Snow King Resort and the Grand Targhee Resort, that in the winter offer skiing, snowboarding and such, open in the summer too with their lifts taking people to mountain biking, hiking, back packing, hang gliding and paragliding. Two other popular things to do are Llama tours and the ever popular water rafting, these are both wonderful ways to see the valley. Rafting tours can be booked for either the leisurely sightseeing adventure or the hair raising white water rafting experience or, if you’d like to do both you can book a combo trip. This area of the country is beautiful and if you ever get the chance to see it you should go.

The 4th of July

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is the annual celebration that commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Did you know that the actual vote in favor of independence from Great Britain happened on July 2 but Congress didn’t actually complete the process of revising the Declaration of Independence until two days later? Celebrations, at that time, were modeled after that of the king's birthday which was celebrated by bell ringing, bonfires, solemn processions, and speeches. During our nations early years Independence Day was commemorated with parades, speeches, and toasting, in ceremonies that celebrated the existence of our new nation. The first Fourth of July celebration was held in Eastport, Maine in1820 and remains the largest in the state. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees in 1870, then in 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.



With the rise of free time, the Fourth became major midsummer holiday. During the later 20th century, Independence Day became less of a holiday about politics and more of a day marked by parades, concerts of patriotic music, and fireworks displays. However all the drinking, partying and injuries caused reformers of the late 19th and the early 20th century started a Safe and Sane Fourth of July movement. I’m not sure how much good it did. The 4th of July remains a potent symbol of national power and of specifically American qualities—even the freedom to stay at home and barbecue. Be sure to check out where all the fun is going on in your area, I've already made my plans for July 4 fireworks in Florida.

What to Do?

This oil leak in the Gulf has got me thinking, first of all what can we as everyday people do to help and second how can we keep this from happening again in the future? For a while now Dawn dishwashing liquid has been on this campaign to help save wildlife. The way it works is, you buy a bottle of Dawn and then enter a number off the bottle on their website and a dollar is donated towards the International Bird Rescue Research Center and the Marine Mammal Center. It’s a small thing but every little bit helps, especially now. We don’t yet know what’s going to happen in the Gulf or if this oil spill will be affecting Florida beaches, we can only hope it’s contained soon. When the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska in March 1989 the spill that occurred dumped approximately 10.9 million gallons of crude oil into the water. The initial, official, clean up went on from April to September of 1989 but some would argue it’s ongoing in some respects to this day. What we saw on T.V then, the oiled shorelines and dead or dying wildlife, will mostly likely be the images we are again going to be inundated with. Needless to say there will be much to clean up this time as well and even if you can’t get down to the impacted areas to physically assist, you can still donate money. I’m sure opportunities will arise as the situation unfolds.



So that’s an idea of what we can do as individuals but what can we do as a collective? One thing we can do is to encourage our leaders to examine alternative ways to gain energy to fuel our lives. Several things that have been suggested in the past include, wind turbines, solar energy and hydroelectric power just to name a few but whatever happens something needs to be done and soon to lower our dependency on oil both foreign and domestic. It stands to reason, when we decrease the number of oil rigs out there, we decrease the chances of something like this happening again. Oil companies are also taking steps now to unsure that all is being done to keep anything like this from ever happening again.

Myrtle Beach

I remember a vacation we took once when I was very young to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12 years old but I do recall all the fun we had playing on the beach, in fact I think that was the first time I ever built a sand castle. Myrtle Beach has some 60 miles of beaches to enjoy and many resort hotels dotted along them. The hotels here are very colorful, mostly pastels; they look like little nautical villas and most have wrap-around porches for maximum beach views, they really are quite lovely. While Myrtle Beach welcomes vacationers year round spring and summer are the most popular times to visit.



Myrtle Beach is also famous for a certain type of dance called the Shag which is similar to the 'jitterbug' and the east coast swing. The Shag requires a special shoe, but that's no problem because there are shops all over town where you can buy them. If dancing isn't really your thing, they have over 100 championship golf courses if you enjoy teeing off, water parks, theme parks, speedways, outlet malls, theaters, and some great restaurants. They also have an abundance of something that can’t be built or trucked in and that’s Low Country charm.