From the crisp, chilled air that signals one to prepare for the coming of Winter even as the sun still hangs high in the sky, to the smells of cinnamon, MacIntosh apples, and pumpkin pie; Fall in New England is and has always been my favorite time of the year, with Halloween being my very favorite Fall holiday, and Thanksgiving coming in a close second!
Every Autumn, I connect with MaineFoliage to peruse the photographs and for information related to Fall, in an attempt to allow my senses to soar and my imagination to kick into high gear! Oh, how I love Fall ... so when I choose to live up in Maine for 6 months out of every year, the months I choose to be there will be May-October. Those are the best times of the year to live in New England, in my personal opinion. Late Spring through Early Fall ... perfect!
Some of the sounds, sights, and smells that crack my memory banks and bring me back to childhood instantaneously are the sounds of dry leaves and twigs snapping under my feet whilst strolling in the woods, the pungent scent of burning leaves, the sweet scent of apples, and the heady scents of cinnamon and cloves, the brightly colored horizon, painted in hues of crimson, burnt orange, and the deepest and most rich golds ever known to humankind. How I miss Autumn in New England ...
When I was a kid, I was always attempting to preserve the colors of the leaves by either collecting them and ironing them in between waxed paper, which actually worked quite well, I might add; to pressing them between the pages of a heavy book. (Usually, the leaves ended up drying to a crisp brown and crumbling into a mess when I would retrieve them, eventually) But the ones I ironed between two sheets of waxed paper usually stayed their color. I wonder what happened to all those ironed leaves ...
And the pumpkins! We would go out with our parents and hunt down the best pumpkins, in graduated sizes ... 5 of them, when it was only 5 of us siblings ... and Dad would carve 5 different faces into each of them very carefully, and set them outside with Christmas lights inside them. Five Jack O'Lanterns lined up in graduated sizes from largest to smallest, to represent each of us kids, from oldest to youngest. That was always exciting ... and one year it warranted a photograph in the local section of the Morning Sentinel! Dad was pretty creative and quite talented, I might add, a legacy he left all 7 of his children with his early demise ...
Today, as I daydream about being in my home state, soaking up the sounds, sights, and smells of Autumn, I will sip a cup of hot apple cider brewed effortlessly through a Keurig. It's not even close to REAL Maine apple cider, but it's a decent facsimile, I suppose. And perhaps I'll burn a cinnamon & clove soy candle, which I actually purchased in Maine when I was up there in early September. THAT will help me reminisce ... sort of. Until I step outside my front door into the blanket of thick, humidity and 80+ heat, that is!
Nothing wrong with daydreaming, then ...
*All photographs property of MaineFoliage.com
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