Taste.

We took a field trip on Monday.

We got up early and loaded the kids in the car and drove South down Illinois 127 to Rendleman Orchards. The drive to the orchards is a little more than an hour if we don’t get lost. Sometimes we do.

We pass the time ooh-ing and aah-ing at the bright, jewel-toned trees we pass, golden and ruby and emerald. We sing songs. We watch for items on our scavenger list; a point for seeing a tractor or an unusual mailbox. We saw no less than four Large-mouthed Bass mailboxes.

At the orchard we browse the delicious smelling wares and select a peck of Fuji apples and a couple of bottles of cider.

The apples are magnificent. If you have never eaten an apple directly from the orchard, make the drive. Nothing you can buy in a grocer’s will compare with the fresh and flavorful fruit of a local producer. Try the Fuji apples. They are in season right now and a personal favorite of mine.

We turn back north a few miles to explore the Pamona Natural Bridge. We see more brilliant plumage on the trees. We hike back to see the arch of stone formed by erosion. Frogs surprise us and one toad tolerates a gentle handling for us.

Another, longer drive eventually takes us back to Murphysboro and the 17^th Street Bar & Grill. Mike Mills’ award-winning ribs do their magic on us and the entire family falls upon the feast with gusto.

I ate too much. I freely confess it. There’s a part of me that always exalts a little in good food. I might be a hedonist or a glutton, but I will praise God in heaven for the Fuji apple and the Smoked Beef Brisket. I hold them up, exhibits A and B, that the world was made to be a paradise. There is still a lot to enjoy, to savor in it. “Taste,” says the Psalmist, “and see that the Lord is good.”