::  ON SUNDAY I MADE a Ratty Apple Pie.  That’s my name for an apple pie made from a mix of not so good-looking apples.  My pie included 2 Melrose, 1 Granny Smith, 2 Red Delicious + 1 mystery apple [Gala?] that was in our frig.  Then I put what my Betty Crocker cookbook describes as French crumb topping on the pie.  The pie was yummy.

::  I READ AN ARTICLE in the Sunday paper about the increase in incivility in daily life.  It rang true with me.  I know that in the last few years I’ve encountered rude drivers, indifferent sales clerks, one incredibly hostile bank manager, a couple of ill-mannered [former] friends, and countless offensive individuals shrieking about politics.

My guess is that after watching violent movies, viewing rude tv shows & absorbing the hostility inherent in extremist political views these annoying people are so desensitized that they don’t know that they are, indeed, rude & uncivil.  The sad part is that I’ve come to realize that sometimes being rude right back to an uncouth person is the only way to accomplish anything because these. people. do. not. get. kindness.   

::  WE HAVE AN INFESTATION of icky miniature fly-like bugs in our house.  The man who washes our windows was here yesterday.  He told me that the bugs, which are coming into the house through the holes in the mesh of the screens, were from the Hackberry tree.

[Having never heard of a Hackberry tree before I googled it.  Natch.  I learned that it is sturdy;  produces tiny dark-red colored berries for the wildlife to munch on;  provides a safe haven for birds in the winter;  was cultivated in 1636;  & in pioneer days was used for making barrel hoops.]

As for getting rid of the icky little bugs– not going to happen until we have a hard frost, the window washer man tells me.  Seems that the dumb little bugs are impervious to all types of removal– including my withering gaze and vacuuming the screens.