My mind is starting to knot up on the genealogical research again, so I need to sort that out. I just might possibly have found the Elmina (Holmes) Brooks's parents but need to find more satisfactory evidence before I call it good.

Yesterday and today I have been in Deerfield. One of Colin's Indian coworkers is leaving this weekend so there are events happening both last night and tonight. Last night was bowling, which I hadn't done since study abroad (at least 5 years). It was quite fun actually. I was worried about my wrist but it turns out my thumb is bruised. During the day I spent time in two different libraries and a coffee.shop. Today, it's hiking and looking for letterboxes in the morning and right now back at one of the previous libraries. I'm thinking of going to a bookstore and getting a hot chocolate there after "coffee break" with Colin - we have to switch our cells to a new plan since my parents are switching to Verizon. Monday was less eventful, but lots of online research, an unsuccessful but fun hike for a letterbox, and grocery shopping.

Nobody came to help make applesauce on Sunday. Kind of disappointing, but we're hoping this weekend people will show up. The point of the party isn't exactly making applesauce. That's just the excuse and a fun diversion. We just want to hang out with people. So we have 25 pounds of apples sitting in the garage and the plan is to get people intrigued by inviting them to pick apples Saturday morning then start making sauce in the afternoon and probably into Sunday. That way people can show up either day - fingers crossed!

A couple things about applesauce making: there's no need to peel and core if you get a special apple musher grinder thingie. We actually got ours as a gift from Colin's mom who found it at a thrift shop. You still have to check and cut out any bad parts.

Memories of my grandma and my mom making sauce aren't all that pleasant. It was fun to spend some time in the orchard, see the mounds of apples, spend time with family, and smell apples all through the house for a while. But I remember spending hours in the orchard, picking *all* the little apples that had hope and were reachable, the hot steamy kitchen, groans over apples not having anything edible on them after all (after peeling and cutting out bad bits to find the whole apple is a bad bit), the accidental contamination of jars, etc.

Fun fact: Did you know that applesauce color comes from the skin of the apple? Crab apples make sauce pink but their insides are very white.

Later: Oops, forgot to post this earlier.