The lead photograph – a view of nature in total harmony -- shows one of the apples growing in the front lawn of our house along Cooley Avenue – on the south side of Jefferson Park – looking towards the sunlit lawn – in the direction of Canada --photographed on the afternoon of a sunny and pleasant 70 deg. F Friday of July 2, 2021.

 

I love eating apples – my current favorites are Gala and Fuji. I try to eat one a day – and I buy them from our neighborhood Marc’s.

 

I like their almost spherical shape – when they fall on the ground – they tend to roll –like a tennis ball -- before coming to a stop. However, apples are too heavy to play tennis with -- my favorite sport. Like an apple a day -- I also try to play solo tennis daily in the park -- weather permitting.

 

There are three apple trees in the front lawn of our house.

 

We have one short crab apple tree (at the eastern end) and two apple trees -- one near the center and the second near the western end of our front lawn as shown in the second photograph.

 

Of the nearly 7,500 varieties of apples in the world, I have no idea what type of apples, are growing on our two trees. They both appear to be identical – dull white in color.

 

I have never tried to pick or taste them – I let them stay on the trees -- and they fall down of their own accord. Also, I have never directly sat under one of the trees to replicate Isaac Newton’s eureka moment of having discovered the law of gravitation when an apple suddenly landed on his head when sitting under an apple tree in England – around 1665. When my first grade Young Scientists at preK-8 CMSD’s Riverside Elementary School are asked -- what did Mr. Newton do with the apple -- after some thought – they reply back saying – of course he ate it – only after washing it. (I am a voluntary teacher at the school – this coming year will be my 16th year teaching.)

 

The third photograph is a close-up of the apples growing on the tree in the center.

 

The fourth photograph is a close-up of the apples growing on the tree in the western end of our front lawn.

 

The very small-sized crab apples are shown in the fifth photograph.

 

The apple trees are covered with beautiful blossoms during the springtime.

 

The sixth and seventh photographs show the crab apple and the apple blossoms photographed in April 2021.

 

The last photograph shows Smokey (left) and Gingy her son – our two outdoor cats and my constant companions – in the front lawn of our house (looks like a forest floor) -- under the shade of the central apple tree on the afternoon of July 2, 2021. Their friend Galena, our golden retriever with a curly tail, now at the Rainbow Bridge, loved the front lawn so much that if I was not looking – she would make a dash across Cooley Avenue towards the park and make me chase her.

 

Enjoy the summer and the joy of eating apples – all year round!

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