Fall Is Here

September in our area is such a beautiful time of year.  Our summer season is short and we have already had our first freeze.  We typically have two peak seasons - early in September and late October.  Because we have so many Sugar Maples on our property - we get a lot of color early.

We know it's the end of the summer when our Dahlias bloom.  Like our prior struggle with tomatoes, we struggle with Dahlias to bloom earlier and longer.  We haven't got it quite right but the Dahlias are still amazing. We winterized the property - bringing in outdoor furniture, emptying water storage barrels, putting the grill in the basement.  As the afternoon warmed,  we sat on the porch and admired the color of the leaves and watched them fall as quickly as they changed color.

I stewed tomatoes for sauce, chopped tomatillos and onions for salsa to pickle, sauteed zucchini for freezing.  Tim made a pork roast for dinner and we watched a great documentary called The Cruise.  Filmed in 1998, it tells the story of a poet/Gray Lines Bus cruise guide who attempts to broaden the horizons of the average New York tourist who catches a ride.  Pre-9/11, it is a total love letter to NYC.  Unfortunately, his "cruise" mentality would never survive the post-9/11 "anti-cruise" NYC.  I miss the pre-9/11 NY.  

Sunday, I got up early and raked the front yard and planted Fall grass seed. We watched old movies and breezed through magazines.  We got excited about the new Tim Burton Dark Shadows movie re-make that will release next year - one of our favorite Sunday afternoon TV re-runs to watch!  We stopped by our neighbors, M&M, to have a tech chat and visit with their new kitten, Daphne, who is adorable.  Back in the city, as we stood on the curb outside Grand Central waiting for a cab, I looked up at the Chrysler building and remembered the quote from the movie we had watched the night before - "uninspired voluptuousness"... I love this town.