In a week I’ll be having another birthday! Who would have thought that Wally’s only son would reach the ripe age of 65. Yup, 65! Who would have thunk it? Didn’t we have a teacher who used that term thunk?
When I was a boy, Holger Mundel and one of the Friesen boys were born close to the same day as me. Each year we rotated to a different boy’s house for the party, however, I only remember doing that for three years. For the party at my house, Wally sent us on a treasure hunt. Of course I knew what all the clues were so I lead the chase. If I recall right, the treasure was chocolate coins covered in gold foil and hidden in the crutch of an apple tree.
One of my presents was one box of Japanese oranges. They were the only oranges Wally would allow in the house. Since he was an apple farmer, he refused to support the American orange growers. Wally always said that the only difference between an orange and an apple was that the orange growers had a better marketing strategy. Apples have just as much of everything that oranges claim to have. I now see in health magazines that people are encouraged to eat apples as often as possible. Wally would be pleased to know that!
Before the days of CA storage, we had a locker in cold storage at the packing house. On special occasions, Wally and I would go and pick up a box of Red Delicious. The packing house always smelled so fresh while we waited for a worker to retrieve a box from our locker. We would take the box home and have fresh, crisp, apples for the festive season. Wally always kept six boxes of Jonathans and Winesaps in the basement during the winter for cooking as well as eating. The Jonathans became soft and the Winesaps developed a waxy skin but neither of them spoiled for a long time. While watching TV, I would consume half a dozen apples at a sitting. Wally and Auntie Kay never stopped me from eating as much fruit as I wanted. When I got the runs I knew it was time to stop, but apples didn’t affect me that way. The habit of eating much fresh fruit stays with me today, it is a habit I think I’ll keep.