Fall in Massachusetts

I know my last post was about North Carolina, but today I was in the mood to write about one of the few things I actually like about living in Massachusetts, which is fall. The weather cools off pretty quickly--although it's been warm for much longer than it seems it should have been, it's going to be in the low 60s all week--and there's apple and pumpkin picking, which you can't beat. I have a plan to go apple picking, get a good carving pumpkin, and eat cider doughnuts after we get back from Raleigh. There's a great farm in Northboro where we went strawberry picking back in May, and we'll probably head up that way just because I liked it a lot.

Fall is my favorite season. I have a tendency to get colds in fall rather than spring, but I don't even care! (Except when I give them to the baby. Which I have. I feel terrible about that.) It cools off, the leaves are GORGEOUS--and somehow, in New England the leaves seem so much more vibrant, and there are old farmhouses and cider mills and crazy rural stuff that go so well with the changing leaves--and I can start wearing sweaters again. I like wearing sweaters and jeans because I like how they cover up my flaws. I also like that in fall and winter, I'm only kind of pale, not ghastly. Pale in winter WORKS.

And I like buying winter clothes for Calvin. Fall is the time when winter clothes start appearing, so I get to go stock up on fleece pajamas and rain gear and long pants and sweatshirts and the like. He's got a rain jacket and a puffy winter coat now, and if I can find his damn tiger hat he'll be almost set. My only concern is snow boots. I haven't bought any yet, because I think they'll be $20 and I'm not sure how much use he'll get out of them. Of course, it's going to snow up here, but I'm still clinging to the hope that we'll be moving back to NC soon. I suppose it couldn't hurt. He can wear them even if it's not SNOWING, just cold, and it may snow some down south. It did last year.

There are a lot of things I don't like about living up here, mostly because it's so far away from home, but I like fall. I'm glad we're experiencing it again, at least one more time.