NEWS a life well planned is a life well lived
The Captain’s Log Fall 2019
“How did an apple change the world?” To most readers, the fall season is signaled by coloring leaves, cooler temperatures, prolific gourd crops, and shortening daylight hours. In Virginia, the onset of fall brings something more substantial and substantive – fall brings the beginning of “Apple Season”. For the uninformed skeptics, yes there is an extraordinary Apple season in Virginia and the annual blossoming brings us apple aficionados our seasonal ambrosial favorites such as pies, butters, preserves, boiled apples, and of course the all-time favorite “spiked” cider. It is virtually impossible to travel Virginia’s piedmont region during the fall and not amass an immediate appreciation for the many indulgent pleasures of this massively abundant crop. Throughout the Blue Ridge and surrounding areas, apple fever peaks in September with festivals, church fundraisers, community stomps,
and harvest pageants. This time of year, Virginia becomes apple crazy. Metaphorically, the Apple has a prodigious liturgical history representing together the good and evil in human culture. “In the Beginning” the Apple was offered as the perfect enticement for Adam & Eve and epitomized the “Fruit of Wisdom”. Our early biblical characters had no defense against the enticing bait and in the end the serpent delivered the Fruit which opened the gateway for all future Sin. Sir Isaac Newton’s study of Physics transformed our understanding of gravity when his alertness in the form of an Apple dropped on his bean. Provincially, there is another Apple which has proved to advance the world’s dialogue and for our purposes makes a great lesson in investment opportunity and behavior. For both good and evil, Steve Jobs’ Apple changed (continued on page 3)