For once, we had all day to visit and catch up on each other's lives. We remembered the apples that grew around the old house at Rock Bridge, and the gallons of apple butter we'd made from them because we felt compelled to preserve their goodness. We couldn't stand leaving them to rot on the ground. We recollected old friends that passed through our kitchen back then and wondered where they are now. Before we knew it, the fruit had cooked down by about half.
Apple butter is quick once the sugar's in and the mixture comes back to a boil.
It didn't seem like any time at all before it foamed up and took on the glassy appearance that signaled it was ready. We stirred in some 3 tablespoons of cinnamon, a compromise amount. It was was about half what Dona wanted and almost twice what I thought we should add. It turned out to be just right. Our apple butter is perfect.