I’m not sure if it’s coincidence, but my parents are here from Michigan for their annual visit — and it’s apple season.

It was long past dark when my wife and I got home from picking them up at the airport, but at the crack of dawn, my father was looking for a bucket to put apples in.

Later that morning, the apples were peeled, sliced and swimming in cinnamon and sugar. By early afternoon, the kitchen had that hauntingly familiar scent of warm apple pies baking.

My diet will have to wait for two weeks.

My wife and I have a small orchard on our property,  between 15 and 20 trees with about 10 different varieties, including Northern Spy, King, Gravenstein, Yellow Transparent, Shay, Liberty, Spitzenburg, Mutsu and Fuji.

But, the one that is turning out to be our favorite, and also gets rave reviews from people we give bags of apples to, is the Japanese variety Akane.

We have three Akane trees, and they produce more apples than we can give away at work.

According to the Web site http://www.allaboutapples.com, the Akane has “bright red fruit with hard, crisp, juicy, white flesh. Tart, sprightly flavor resembling Jonathan.”

And they make a wonderful pie.

Mom’s pies were a big hit, even with the delivery driver from Hennick’s Home Center in Lakeside. He left with a piece of pie and several bags of apples that my wife picked for his co-workers back at the shop.

 I didn’t mind the bags of apples — but Mom is giving away “my” pie.

And after a weekend with my youngest brother visiting from the Los Angeles area, the pie supply was starting to run low. So Sunday night in the rain, Dad was out there picking and then peeling again. I imagine the oven is probably going already as I write this.

The house will, no doubt, smell good again today.

Dad’s also found a good use for the peels. One of the does that frequents the property had twins this year, so Dad is putting the peels down the hill in a clearing next to one of the apple trees. Saturday, at the crack of dawn, the twins and two does wandered into the clearing. They were there long enough to get their pictures taken, eat all the peels and have Dad toss them a few more apples he went and retrieved from the tree in front of the house.

Not a bad way to start your weekend — a cup of coffee, a few deer and some apples.

Last year when my parents visited, it was applesauce and apple pies. This year, we’ve already had the pies, and my wife is breaking out her apple cake recipe. They’ve also threatened to try a new apple upside down cake recipe they found in a magazine.

Pity the poor Cuisine editor who has to try all these recipes.

Like I said, the diet can wait.

n n n

Here is the recipe for the apple cake my wife makes. The original comes from the Apple Hill Growers Association in Camino, Calif. My wife has tweaked it to make it a little healthier.

Apple Cake

1 1/2 cups Splenda

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

4 cups diced apples

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup bran

Combine Splenda, oil and eggs and apples. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda. Add the bowl with the dry ingredients to the apple mixture. Pour into a 9-by-13-inch  greased cake pan and bake for one hour in a 350-degree oven.

(Note: The original recipe calls for regular flour, 2 cups of sugar instead of the Splenda, and does not include bran.)

Mom’s apple pie

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch cornstarch

8 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 9-inch unbaked pie crusts

Combine filling of apples, sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch. Let this stand for 15 minutes and taste the filling. You can adjust cinnamon and sugar to taste at this point. Place one 9-inch crust in a 9-inch glass pie pan. Pour filling into crust. Cover with second crust and seal the edges. Use knife to cut slits into top crust.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.