Scott, some of the things you say confuse me. If you are tasting your apples, what are you looking for? Here's what I look for: A bittersweet will be totally bitter and totally sweet, without any acidity whatsoever. A bittersharp will be totally bitter and acidic, but the sugar content can be all over the map here. So it's more like a culinary or dessert apple with lots of bitterness that you can't taste until the bitter compounds hit the back of your mouth and throat. I think pure bitters are essentially non-existent. A sweet will be essentially sugar, without any acidity, e.g. essentially tannin free. Eating one is a rather odd experience, it's like eating an acidless lime or acidless orange, like sugar water. A sharp is your average culinary and dessert apple. Even Golden delicious falls into the sharp category. The whole point of these categorizations is so that I can combine the proper ratios of sweet to sharp, to bitter. (the latter usually about 10%) So regarding bittersweets, it means you don't want any "sharp" component to it. If you taste a good bittersweet, it will taste bitter and sweet, with no acidity. I have not heard of apples loosing their bitterness as a result of high heat, but I suppose that's possible. I would expect that they will just have a higher sugar content, that's all, and you will therefore need to reduce the amount of pure sweets you add to your cider batches. So now that we have the technical details out of the way, I highly recommend "Amere de Berthecourt", it's a bittersweet apple, incredibly prolific and vigorous fantastic bittersweet in the purest sense - e.g. there isn't a trace of sharpness in it. I grow it here in California and it's got plenty of bitter tannins in it. You bite into it, and you think at first it's totally bland, until the bitter tannins hit the back of your mouth, at which point it's very difficult to actually swallow. This is the effect that you want. This apple originates from Maine-et-Loire, France and it is available in the US. The french selections are infinitely superior to the British apples, mainly because they have been selected for their precociousness. Kingston Black is pretty much a wild apple, it's not worthy as a cider apple because it is such a shy bearer. If you were making cider commercially, you'd go broke if you tried to grow kingston black. A few notes on heat: heat doesn't necessarily increase the sugar contents in apples - usually the onset of Winter cold does a much better job at drawing the sugars into the apples. So if you're trying to increase the bitterness content to add the "body" to the cider, then heat is in your favor because it will keep the sugars from building too high, that is, as long as the variety in question isn't heat sensitive - e.g. it doesn't go mealy from hot weather. The trouble with some British apples is that they do go mealy from heat exposure. Amere de B. is an early apple, so it will ripen when it's still warm out, and therefore not draw the sugars as much. And it appears to be very heat resistant, e.g. it doesn't go mealy. Now here's an interesting note on tannins: my understanding of tannins is that tannins contribute all sorts of flavors, not just bitters. So you can have a high level of tannins yet have no bitterness at all. What is strange is that the technical classifications according to Barker's Classification of Cider Apples (LARS 1903) is as follows: Sharp Acid More than 0.45% Tannin less than 0.2% Bittersharp Acid more than 0.45% Tannin more than 0.2% Bittersweet Acid less than 0.45% Tannin more than 0.2% Sweet Acid less than 0.45% Tannin less than Yet you take an apple like "Amere de Berthecourt" which is clearly a bittersweet, you have BRIX 15.0 Acid 0.23% PH 4.08 Tannin 0.169% Average weight per apple: 82g So it's low on acidity, yet the tannin levels are still below 0.2%. According to the classification, it would be a sweet, but it's actually a bittersweet, I've tasted it, it's definitely very bitter. Then take Taylor's sweet, it has a malic acid content of 0.18% but the tannins are close to Amere de B at 0.14%. What I am trying to say with this is that the bitterness is not necessarily correlated to the tannin contents, and that bitterness is likely to not be affected by heat, it's only the amount of sugar and malic acid that changes as a function of heat, thus making it seem that an apple might have more or less tannins. I've attached a link for Cider apple compositional data. But I don't think the data is all that helpful in determining which one has the highest bitterness tannins, because the measurement is for tannins as a whole, not just those tannins that contribute to bitterness. Here is a link that might be useful: Cider Apple Compositional Data

Could you hinge them together and make a 'screen' that stands with them? If you stood it with the doors at 90 degree angles to each other, it would be a perfect backdrop for a small table and lamp, etc... They might integrate better in a room that way, as part of a 'tableau'. The 'screen' could also be moved around if wanted and small pictures hung on it still, as you had planned when they were up against the wall.

Well there is a lot that babies and the antique have in common...no hair, no teeth, wear diapers... :) Talk about adults dressing like babies, did you see Dencia at the Grammys? Including the sequined drop drawers? Ridiculous. Loonlake, just for you, here's me on the way to the library today. Actually, after my Mom died (age 81), I went through her closets and took a bunch of her clothes. It was fortunate we were the same size. I was still working at the time and whenever I wore her stuff, I got compliments...when I wore my own, silence. What can I say? She was hipper than I! Of course, she got carded when she went to apply for the golden age pass in bowling...you had to be 80 to get it and they didn't believe she was! Cindymac, the colors in the jacket are pretty. I think what would make the difference between "blair" or "alfred dunner" and not is the presence/lack of a waistline. If it were mine, I'd probably take in the side seams in some way in the waist area to give me a little more shape. Here are some before and after tailoring for men...same applies for women. Vermont Country Store is another place to find styles untouched by time.

I thought about that distinction..travel and experiences vs things..to me, it's also not either or, it's both. I traveled less that I wanted to, planned to, yet quite a lot; most of things I love were bought or found during trips, whether several hour trip, or travel to faraway places. So that things I love they remind me of travel, experiences, certain people in my life..and travelling somewhere allows me to experience, to see people I love, to meet new ones, and to see and appreciate many wonderful things as well. Not all of them I'll be able to snatch and take with me, but I'll remember them. and most likely I'll snatch something small too:) So to me, it's two sides of a coin..the coin being, well..a journey. And each journey will be unique of course; but the point is to have it..recognize it...try to have a blast when possible, since once upon a time that journey will come to an end, and hard to know what the next one will feel like. Probably very unlike anything we imagine. I'm not afraid of becoming old lady(yes, I'm vain and shallow nevertheless lol, and would like to still look like I'm 28..))..I'm more afraid of not having a chance to become one..:) That'd be a pity.. And I hope to live to see my grandchildren one day, to love and to hold, you know, and I'm pretty sure they won't find me or my place ridiculous:) Funny, quirky, strange, different from what it will be(what it will be then?)-maybe. Well it's all cool. We don't take our journeys alone; others continue it, and they'll take from ours so much, even if no things will be left, no actual place, and very little memories.