Cycles

I'm pretty sure this is a Mac, but it might be an Empire.  In any case, I was excited this morning to see the first blush of red on my closely watched developing apples as I took the dogs out for their first morning break.  You have to look really close, but it's there.

This is my first apple tree under my care.  (Not that it really needs me at all, but I like the illusion that I've got a say in the matter.)  I can't believe it took me so long to put one in the ground.  I had a pear tree once, but it doesn't have the same feel. There's something magical about apples, the way they fruit in rows of careful cultivation with pesticides and attention to detail–or a single lone tree forgotten at the edge of an abandoned farm doing exactly the same thing and a being a lot more precise with it.

Apple trees might be one of those things that symbolize being settled to me, of being part of a circle, rather.  Belonging and finding your place, as small or large as it might be.  Or it just might be that I'd not had the room or sun for one.  But for whatever reason, I now have two apple trees just about a year in my soil with a handful of fruit on them, and I'm pleased.  Now, with a little luck, I might make pie.  -grin-

Work is going well with chapter two of a Meg short in the cabinet of awesomeness.  I'm working three today, adding in a little something that wasn't in my original plan.  Funny how that works out, but the characters are starting to become more complex.  It won't be long before I can go back and make them individuals instead of stereotypes. Yay.

I've also got stuff from NY that's going to come plopping on my desk yet this week.  (Didn't I say?  Didn't I jest say?)  Nothing that's going to take much time, but ends need to be tied off, and I've got one more release before the end of the year.  Wow, it's been a busy one.  I had no idea until I started looking back.