I Heart Fall

I know that there are people with a bit more melanin and a bit less chub who love summer the best of all the seasons, but most people would agree that fall is the hands-down loveliest time of year, right?  The weather has been fantastic lately.  I'm trying to appreciate the short window of perfection that generally lasts from mid-September to mid-October in New England.  After sweating my way through an extra humid summer, I am so happy to experience the start of some good old-fashioned autumn days.

I was thinking about fall traditions this afternoon and tried Googling the apple farm that my mother and I visit every fall.  Mum started taking The Dude and me there when we were little to select pumpkins.  We usually went with our neighborhood friends the Whites back in the '80s and early '90s.  On top of spending an agonizingly long time selecting the perfect pumpkins each year, we would take hay rides through the orchard and feed apples to the horses.  The old horses haven't been there for a long time, but my mother and I still go every year to choose pumpkins, buy cider, and just appreciate the familiar sights and smells.  Last fall was the first year that we missed our annual pilgrimage and when I discovered that the farm has a website and saw photos, I was so very happy.  I can't wait to go back this fall.

I got an email from my uncle last week arranging a date for my cousins and I to visit and carve pumpkins.  How lucky am I do be an (allegedly) grown-up woman with two sets of parents supporting my childish need to create jack-o-lanterns each year.  If all goes well, my work will grace both my aunt and uncle's home and my parents' home.  My cousin's new husband reminded me at dinner on Monday that his carving was the best last year.  I wish I could muster some competitive spirit but for nearly my whole life I've been creating the same basic smiling pumpkin face.  I felt like I really stepped it up last year with the winged cat creature I obviously copied from a stencil.

2009 Pumpkins.  Mine on the left is pretty much the same design I've done since I was old enough to wield a carving knife.

2012 Pumpkins

And finally a shout-out to my mother's amazing pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies, which I demand every fall.  They are to die for.  I'm the only person in my family who likes them, so I eat a whole batch solo every year.  And I wash them down with a gallon of apple cider, which my dad always buys for my visit home in the fall and then tells me I need to finish before I leave.  So sucking down enough cider to make myself physically ill is another of my autumn traditions.  Cider and pumpkin cookies.  Mmmmmm.  I already feel sick.

One last joyful part of the season-- dressing my parents' dog up in her bumblebee Halloween costume.