Neighborly apples

Last fall I was invited to identify some apples growing in a neighbor's yard. ¶ Not to beat around the tree: these proved to be Northern Spy, something that the home owners had suspected. ¶ I'm not actually a great apple detective , so just as well! But my payment was a nice ration of these apples, reminding me of how good they are. ¶ Why did I need to be reminded?