Hi, everyone!
The leaves are falling and it’s almost Election Day. That means Grandpa is getting ready for winter and Grandma is getting ready for the Election Day Bake Sale at church!
Thomas helped Grandpa take down the umbrella on the picnic table because we’re not likely to have “eat outside” weather again until spring. Grandma is collecting bake sale ingredients in the family room!
Last weekend, I had my first chance to go to the bay to see what the painters had done. The siding looks very happy to have a nice new coat of protective stain! The color looks especially nice with the autumn colors of the leaves!
Grandma took me for a walk along the road to see the fall colors! The leaves are very pretty! There were a few apple trees that still had fruit, but most of the apples have been picked.
Last Monday, Grandma took me with her to go voting early. This is the first year early voting has been offered in New York State! Grandma was glad to be able to vote early, so she can go right to church to bake on Election Day. Everybody was very friendly! Grandma got a ballot custom-printed for her election district. After she filled it out, she let me put it in the scanner for her! The election inspector said I could have a voting sticker for helping!
Since the voting place was close to Schutt’s Apple Mill, Grandma took me back there to see cider being made. I was happy they were doing it when we got there! First, we looked at the photos that explained the entire process. The bins of apples get dumped into a grinder, then the apple pieces move up a conveyor belt into a hopper.
The apple press takes layers of apple pieces separated by big plastic sheets. Each batch of apple pieces drops from the hopper. The workers spread the apple pieces out and wrap them in a blanket to keep them in place. Then the layers get squeezed upward in the press and the cider comes out! It travels through pipes, gets filtered, and then the workers put it into bottles.
I made friends with a lot of varieties of apples, then my friend Ruy-san sold me a cinnamon fry cake. I had it for lunch when I got home, and it was yummy!
After we got home on Monday, Grandma and Grandpa started clearing the leaves off the Fairport yard. There were still lots of leaves on the trees, but Grandma and Grandpa made a great big leaf pile for me next to the street! Then Bella-san came over to help Grandma make the rest of the gluten-free scones for the bake sale. Bella-san can’t help with the apple pies any more because the pie crust flour has gluten in it.
On Tuesday, we had another nice day! Grandma and Grandpa took me back out to Sodus to rake the leaves there! Grandma and Grandpa brought the kayaks upstairs for storage. I helped Grandma wash and dry them before they went into the cottage. There were some big branches down. I thought this branch looked like a spooky character!
Last night, we had a big wind storm! It blew down a lot more leaves in our yard in Fairport! The power went out at Uncle Steven’s house and James’ and Thomas’ school was closed. Uncle Steven and James and Thomas came over to spend the day at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Thomas brought Pete the Cat, who was visiting Thomas from his kindergarten class. Guess what? Pete the Cat keeps a journal! Maybe my picture of him with me will show up in his journal as a picture of me with him!
Love,
Lion-san
Thomas says he loves his fudge and had fun while the power was out. James loved doing sudoku.
That’s a lot of leaves for a little lion. You certainly earned your cinnamon fried cake.
That’s a really nice picture Of Pete the Cat.
Love,
LaVache and LIC
You got to see leaves, how voting work. a cider press works and taste a fry cake. You are a lucky lion! That was a really nice picture of Pete the Cat.