The weather was Prima. Thousands of happy people came to Retzer Nature Center to celebrate the apple harvest with a Royal Gala... or a Honey Crisp, Cortland or Molly's Delicious.

We started the day by slicing hundreds of apple pies and crisps, and had people asking for it before we were done at 9:00 a.m.. After that it was a steady stream of customers, which soon stretched out the door and down the hall. I felt the prices were very fair for what they got, and happily took their money until I was relieved as cashier around 1:00. 

I bought a slice to experience the sweet taste of accomplishment, and it was good. It was nice to see everyone enjoying the pies that so many people worked hard to produce.(They were baked right there at Retzer.) Apple Jam also entertained the folk with folk tunes while they ate their caramel apples and pie slices.

The scarecrows this year were great!

Wagon rides only a buck.

I bought a selection of the largest apples I could find among the 50 or so varieties. All the apples could be purchased for 50 cents each, or by the peck or half-peck, except Honey Crisp were a dollar, and they sold out first. The largest apple I could find was the 20 Ounce Pippin, a good baking apple.

I'll be selling apple pie slices from 9:00 to noon next Saturday the 20th at Retzer Nature Center's 22nd Annual Apple Harvest Festival, and you're invited to buy some. Keep me busy.

Last year the weather was great and a good crowd turned out for this applicious event. There will be all sorts of crafts for kids, horse drawn hayrides, planetarium show, over 50 varieties of apples and cider.  A couple of concerts are lined up: Folk group Apple Jam from 11:00 to 1:00 and Celtic ensemble Tairis from 2:30 to 4:30. There also will be Johnny Appleseed, scarecrows, essay and apple pie judging and a silent auction.

The fest runs from 9:00 to 5:00 and food will be available all day. Because the apple prices are relatively low, many varieties of those and the cider ran out last year. Get there early. 

Retzer is at the west end of Madison Street just before it intersects with DT. The number is 896-8007. Admission is $5.00, unless you're volunteering, (and they're still looking for a few of those too.)

It was something we were looking forward to for a long time. We wanted to pick up where we left off with the last balloon rally of last year. We wanted to hook up with the great couple we hung with last year and share more good times. We were going to help them get their bright yellow balloon up, chase it until it landed, then pack it back up. We were going to talk about the past year over pizza and check out the fair together. It was going to be so great.

Well, we didn't crew for "Yellow Fever" and we didn't even crew for the Re/Max balloon as I mentioned in my last blog. A nice thing about being involved in hot air ballooning is that having a good time doesn't depend on who you're crewing for. The only disappointment can be the weather and the weather was great last weekend. No rain and not too windy meant every time they were scheduled to launch they launched.

Crewing with someone new exposed us to a whole new set of fun. "La Ristra," the 800 pound, 128 foot tall, world's largest chili pepper balloon never took off, just inflated, but that was enough. The pilot, Mike Shrum, from my favorite state that I've never been to, New Mexico, was a lot of fun. Because it takes four times the normal about of crew members to fasten and unfasten velcro on 56 chilis, get trapped air out, lift it, etc., it seemed like a big party. By the time he took off in his regular balloon from Butler Middle School on Sunday morning he had more than a dozen people either in the cab or bed of the pickup truck or following behind in a car. In the two years I attended Butler I never imagined I'd be helping launch a hot air balloon from it's athletic field.

We didn't crew with the people we wanted but we saw them often and even launched from Butler together. La Ristra clearly needed our help. We not only helped unpack, inflate and pack up the chili balloon, but because we were from Waukesha we also navigated the chase vehicle when Mike flew.

Almost 20 balloons launched on four occasions during the Skyfest 2007 rally. I hope most people were able to catch a glimpse of them. Maybe you saw the chase vehicle convoy pass your house or maybe a colorful balloon touched down on your street. Till next year . . .