Fall, How I've Missed You

Ten years. That's how long it's been since I've gotten to experience the fall season. I haven't been stateside during October/November since 2002. (And that last 2002 Thanksgiving was spent at a friend's beach house on the gulf coast.) Isn't that crazy? Fall travel doesn't line up well with our work schedule. We stick to summer months or December when we can make longer trips. A few weeks ago we had the rare chance to visit Seth's family for a weekend. New England in October. Candy corn, fall leaves, boots, sweaters, and corduroy jackets. Doesn't get much more fall than that!

I've been so busy since we got back to the island that I haven't had the chance to share any pictures from our trip. While most of our days up there were spent in Boston visiting Seth's dad at the rehab hospital, the Saturday morning of our visit a group of guys came over to help out with some yard work. Lucky us, my always hospitable mother-in-law asked if we could drive over to Russell Orchards to pick up some fresh cider donuts for the yard crew.

Inside the barn we perused freshly picked apples, pumpkins, pastries, shelves of jams. And warm cider donuts of course!

We grabbed a few extra donuts for ourselves and enjoyed them with coffee and hot cider down by the pond behind the barn. The pond's web-footed residents came for a visit hoping for a few bites. When we wouldn't feed them they amused themselves by playing freeze tag with a nearby toddler and terrifying his mom who saw the danger is this but had a newborn attached to her boob.

On our way home we stopped near the salt marsh in Essex to say hello to some friends we hadn't seen in a long while.

When we got home, all the leaves were raked. Can you believe that wheelbarrow? If I only get three days of fall once every ten years, Boston's North Shore is the place to spend it.

By the way, that beautiful quirky building on the right is a town hall and library. Where do these North Shore towns get off being so picturesque? I'm already looking forward to our winter visit this December!