I was thinking back today and talking to a friend about the question of what is my favorite season. I don’t even need to think about it. My all time favorite season by far is fall. Fall is not the glorious riot of color here in the southeast, that I remember from living in New Hampshire most of my life. I love everything about fall in the northeast. The air turns crisp and smells so fresh. The aroma is a blend of leaves and smoke from the fires people are starting to build in their fireplaces. The leaves turn so many shades of red, yellow and orange that it never failed to take my breath away to look at them. Every year I collected one colored fall leaf and saved it, pressed in a book. We took the kids for a ride in the car dressed in their fall sweaters looking for a place to take their fall picture. I have some great photos of them from that time sitting on stone walls or fences or playing in piles of leaves. The girls sometimes wore matching sweaters and cable knit sweater tights with their skirts. Each year they were a little taller and a little more grown up looking, but always surrounded by those gorgeous colored leaves. Later on there was a little brother in the pictures with them. Those are some great memories of a nice family tradition.
There was an apple orchard right up the hill from our house called Sunset Hill Orchard in Goffstown Village. http://www.facebook.com/SunsetHillOrchard
They made the best apple cider I have ever tasted, I used to freeze a gallon so we could have it on Thanksgiving. It was so fresh you could actually watch them making it and buy it right from the press. We would go and pick our own apples and I made apple crisp from a recipe in Fannie Farmer cookbook we would have the first batch for dinner to celebrate apple season. I really miss Macintosh apples. We just don’t have them down here in the south. Those are my favorite apples and there is nothing like eating a firm, crisp Mac apple right off the tree. We lived in a hilly area and right in our town there were the Uncannoonuc mountains (http://www.gotopinardville.com/uncanoonuc_mountains.htm) . People in town said that the name meant “ woman’s breasts” in the native American language. There were many hiking trails that were relatively easy to walk up so we could bring the kids. At the top there was an area of flat rock that we had picnics on with a panoramic view of the trees with their foliage and the gorgeous countryside. Check out the website above for more information and pictures of those mountains and the surrounding area. We have some great fall memories from that time in our lives. The last 2 days here in the Charleston area have definitely felt like fall. It was in the high 80’s low 90’s until yesterday, there was a rain storm early in the morning and ever since it’s been in the high 50’s, low 60’s, talk about a shock to the system! I have frantically unpacked my sweaters and down comforter already even though I know it will get warm again, this cold snap won’t last. What we are missing here is the glorious foliage. My Sago palms unfortunately do not change color, they are green year round in my yard. To see any foliage we would have to drive a few hours north to see them in the upstate or in NC.
Syrinx Asylum 