True Colors

Fall represents a very special time of the year. The lands bounty is being harvested. The temperatures begin to feel cool maybe even crisp. But nothing says fall more than the changing colors of autumn leaves. Did you know that the season we call “fall” is the only season with two names? The word 'autumn' is derived from the French word "automne", and became popular in usage for the season since the 16th century. The North American name for the season, 'fall', probably derived as a contraction of the phrase "fall of the leaves", has since become interchangeable with autumn.

Leaf Peeping – With the first day of autumn this past Sunday behind us, Tuesday morning found us following our noses (ok our GPS mapping program) on a drive to upper New Hampshire and Vermont. As we drove into woods, we could not help but let out a little gasp as the colors of the foliage season enveloped us. Mother Nature’s fashion show is featuring some of the most vibrant colors in several years or so says the locals. Red is very big and under a clear blue sky, it absolutely pops out and makes you just pause for a moment. Although the weather has a certain feel of summer to it (it’s over 80 degrees), the air is clear and the sky, aside from a few wispy clouds, is a deep blue. We can’t tell you precisely when peak foliage will be, but we can tell you we found the fall colors awe inspiring this last week of September. In reality they say there is no precise definition of “peak fall foliage”. For us we feel the most beauty is when there is still some green mixed in with the reds and oranges. So this last trip into northern New Hampshire and Vermont was a wonderful experience and did not disappoint.

Lost in the Woods? – I let the GPS plot our trip and well I think it had a somewhat “senior moment” or something. The road became narrow then turned to gravel and finally turned into a one lane dirt road before the “Posted, No Trespassing” sign was blocking our way. Mellie was not pleased but for me this is what you call a bonus scenic side trip. It took us an hour or so to backtrack out of the farm and back to “normal highways” but boy what a tour of the Vermont farmland!

Ben & Jerry’s – To create a sort of purpose to our wanderings through upper Vermont we decided to visit the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory. Ok so it was because of the free samples, at any rate the visit was quite interesting. The beautiful weather, actually rather hot, made for a perfect day to enjoy a little ice cream and have a picnic lunch on the factory grounds. The free samples for the day were mint chocolate chunk (mint ice cream made with all natural peppermint extract & fudge chunks) but after our picnic lunch we purchased our selected favorites at the scoop shop. Mine was a new flavor, cinnamon buns (caramel ice cream with cinnamon bun dough & a caramel cinnamon streusel swirl) and Mellie selected Crème Brûlée (sweet custard ice cream with a caramelized sugar swirl). So can you blame us? With concoctions like that who could resist?

Road revelation #18 – Don’t be afraid to take a country road. Sometimes life sends us down a path that seems confusing or maybe even a bit scary. But don’t live life so safely that you never take a risk or challenge. You never know what may be at the end of the road even if it is only a “do not trespass” sign. You will at least be able to say I’ve done that/ been there!