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On Oct. 12, we awoke to our first snow. The children were out of bed pretty quickly when they noticed the snow swirling outside. This was a very early snow. My garden had not even experienced a killing frost yet, but I imagine it's now history for this year.

So, instead of gardening, I'm planning to do laundry if it quits snowing. The sun was out a while this morning, so I'm hoping maybe the snow will quit and I can make it out to the laundry lines.

Meanwhile, the snow didn't stop sister Emma from running some errands into town. She left her Benjamin here while she went to town. So Joseph and Benjamin are outside playing. They said they're going to make a snowman, but I doubt they'll get too far. There is only a thin layer of snow. Looks like maybe our leaves will get covered, but it isn't sticking to too much else.

We haven't started our coal stove yet, but we probably will now with the arrival of this wintery weather. Our hard coal was delivered on Saturday so the timing was good. Joe still needs to check the chimney before we use it. We always like to clean it out before we start the stove in the fall — we always want to prevent chimney fires. In our new house, we plan to heat the house from a coal stove in the basement. That will be nice to have the coal and ashes mess down there away from everything. My husband, Joe, is now only working four days a week, so he has extra time to work on the house. We are still hoping to be moved in before the real winter weather arrives.

On Sunday, we took the buggy for a 12-mile ride to visit Joe's dad. We took a dinner along with us. This visit was in honor of his 68th birthday, which was on Oct. 9. He is losing a lot of weight.

Joe's dad is battling skin cancer and is also diabetic. He has a lot of pain. Joe's sister Carol, her husband, Pete, and their family also were there and brought some food. We started home around 4 p.m. It was a very beautiful fall day to go for a long ride, past the turning trees and apple orchards.

Apple pies, apple crisps and apple dumplings are finding their way onto our table. Our children all like apples, which is great, because they are such a healthy snack. We've also been enjoying fresh apple cider. A family in our church has an apple farm. They told us to bring containers and fill them with fresh cider. We sure were glad for it. Popcorn and cider tastes good together as a snack in the evening.

Well, now I'm not sure if I want to do laundry today after all. It's really blowing snow again. Brrrrr.

I must go get the children a snack. Kevin is begging to be held. It's almost naptime for him. He is taking a few steps once in awhile. He has plenty of teachers but he still thinks crawling is faster for now.

Nothing tastes better this time of year than a homemade apple pie with fresh apples.

Try this favorite of ours:

French apple pie

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

6-7 cups sliced apples

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

Mix sugar and cinnamon with apples and put into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Make a topping of butter or margarine, brown sugar, flour and sprinkle over pie. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees and then 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lovina Eicher lives in rural Michigan with her husband and eight children. Readers with questions for Lovina can send them to: Oasis Newsfeatures, P.O. Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042.