Can’t you almost smell that color?

When I first saw a Mountain Rose Apple, my breath caught. It reminded me of a professor who said that one of the Impressionist painters — I think it was Matisse — brought an apple as a gift when he visited friends. And that’s exactly what these apples are, tokens of affection. The best way to bring something simple and sweet to someone you love.

Taste 1,000 fruits is part of my ongoing Life List project. If you’d like to make a Life List of your own, start with these 10 tips or this exercise.

The rest of you may have some shopping to do, but fortunately your Father’s Day ideas are inspired. Freddy made Moo Cards from photos her dad has taken, so he can share his Flickr address with photo subjects when he travels. Evil Science Chick would love to replace the powder blue Mustang her father sold when she was born so he could buy a family car. Adel says, “My dad loves bouncy balls for some reason, so a big bag of bouncy balls would probably be his ideal father’s day gift.” And when Melissa was six, she picked a all the dandelions from the yard and left them in the mailbox for her father. He was on his way to punish her for shattering yet another pair of glasses when he found the bouquet, and decided against it. Awww.

Congratulations again, Emma! And for everyone else, here are the rest of your Father’s Day ideas:

Handmade and/or Sentimental
Big batches of homemade soup for the freezer
Transferring all his photo slides to digital
Homemade cards
Homemade book on the theme of “I love you more than…”
Repay college tuition
A card I made in college with a picture of us and words cut out of
baking
a macaroni encrusted picture frame of me
Baseball game scrapbook

Personalized

A brick engraved with his name and the details of his service to the USMC. The personalized brick is now among the many on the path at the Marine Corps Memorial here in DC.
Framed Photos
Portraits of the kids in their “My Dad Rocks” t-shirts
stepping stone imprint of our daughter’s feet
Mug with daughter’s handprints
Photo mousepad

Booze and Food
Beer of the month
Hot Sauce of the Month
Single malt Scotch
Tequila
Mr. Beer Homebrew Kit
A carton of cigarettes and a twelve pack of beer
Six-pack of PBR and a can of mixed nuts
Vintage Bourbon
A bag of “goodies” from the Sierra Nut House

Hobbies
Hiking Walking Stick
LA Times Sunday Crossword books
A Small Orchard
Anything from Lee Valley, a mail-order catalogue for woodworkers and gardeners
Painting lessons
Golf bag, shirts, jackets, pants, clubs, shoes, balls
Sunrise fishing trip
Tickets to the US Open golf championship for him and his favorite golf partner, my husband
Golds Gym for Wii
Enertia Electric Motorcycle
New Train Set
Chrome for his Harley
Afternoon of hang gliding
Gardening supplies
Ashtray
Kayaking
Sailing trip
adult tricycle

Family Time
A bag of circus peanuts and a road trip to Gettysburg
A nice meal
Child seat for his bike, helmet for the kiddo
2 copies of a book on a subject we are both interested in- one for each of us- so we can talk about them as we both read them
Extend our satellite TV channels
Day off from parenting
Disney World with his 3 grandkids
Hammock
I flew home one year as a complete surprise
A weekend without a schedule
A trip to Kansas City to cruise around all the places he liked to go as a kid with stops at his favorite BBQ and burger joints.
A day of antiquing together

Gadgets
Wireless headphones
GPS
Flip video recorder

Handyman Enablers
Chainsaw
Ladder
Manure fork
The Nail Jack

Tickets, Gift Cards, Donations

Opera tickets
Circus tickets
Movie tickets
Concert tickets
Sports tickets
eBay gift certificate
Borders card
Best Buy card
Gift certificates for rounds of golf, and a series of Sunday mornings where no one asks him to do anything, so he can play guilt-free
In-N-Out gift card
Heifer International donation

Practical

New bumper for the pickup
Travel toiletry kit
Underwear
Detail his car
A puppy
Tractor attachment

Media

Magazine subscriptions
Best-of This American Life
Stupid American History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions
Louis L’Amour book
I renew my Dad’s subscription to Smithsonian Magazine.
Great Professors lectures on DVD from The Teaching Company

Mom’s Day is Sunday, y’all. I have a bunch of great picks up on Mighty Goods, but order soon, or no milk and cookies for you after school.