Apple Pie Musings

Apple Pie Musings is a gentle, witty, and deeply personal collection of reflections by Ontario writer and illustrator Loreen Rice Lucas, born and raised in Midland, Ontario, and longtime resident of Hawkestone and Oro‑Medonte Township.

Written later in life—after she taught herself to use a computer at age 80—this book completes her beloved Apple Pie trilogy, following Outhouses & Apple Pie and Apple Pie Philosophy. The chapters move through the seasons of the year, from New Year’s Day to Christmas, weaving together memories of family, community, work, and resilience in rural Ontario.

Lucas’s life mirrors the history of the province itself. She survived the 1918 influenza pandemic, the Great Depression, Hurricane Hazel, wartime years, and dramatic changes to farm and village life across Simcoe County. She raised eight children in the family home, cared for elderly parents, and quietly made history as one of the first women in Ontario to hold both a real‑estate broker’s license and an insurance agent’s license.

What makes Apple Pie Musings especially meaningful to local readers is its unmistakable sense of place. From Little Lake, Oro Township roads, one‑room schoolhouses, fall fairs, and remembered neighbours, these pages echo with places many still recognize. Lucas also includes her own pen‑and‑ink sketches of historic buildings and greeting‑card illustrations postmarked between 1916 and 1920, preserving fragments of everyday Ontario life that might otherwise be lost.

Warm, humorous, and clear‑eyed, Apple Pie Musings is not just a memoir—it is a portrait of a generation that built communities through perseverance, volunteerism, and care for others. For readers from Simcoe County and beyond, it feels like sitting at a kitchen table, listening to stories that deserve to be remembered.

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