reasons for my love of the fall

1. pumpkin picking. we went to tranquility farms in tranquility yesterday to pick pumpkins with my folks, my sis and her boyfriend, and my brother-in-law and his wife (even though my brother-in-law had to hobble around in a cast due to his rock-climbing related injury). it was a ton of fun, and we went on a hayride and wandered through a corn maze, and teddy even tried to do the pumpkin slingshot!
   here is a pic of us as a family:
2. apple picking! we haven't gone yet this year because my mutsu/crispin apples are not quite ready until the middle of the month, but we'll probably go to ochs orchard in warwick, ny again this year. they also have the best apple cider donuts i've ever tasted, and as a fatty, i've tasted quite a few in my day. they also probably have the best view in the warwick valley from the gazebo at the top of the hill. penning's is nice too, but gets REALLY, REALLY crowded. penning's is really better for their awesome farm market that carries all kinds of local produce, meat, and dairy, and also has a beer garden and grill attached!
3. my anniversary! teddy and i will have been married seven wonderful (and sometimes awful, occasionally magical, always interesting, insanely quick) years in less than a week. this year, we are going to cooperstown, partially because of my love affairs with baseball and upstate new york, especially in the fall! i'm really excited since the two of us haven't gotten away together without the baby since february, and i can't wait to see what the town has to offer. teddy tells me it's like stepping back in time, and since it still has indoor plumbing, i'm all for it!
4. BASEBALL! I LOVE THE PLAYOFFS, especially since my brewers are like, stomping everyone. to me, playoffs=romance. plus i am like, all about the hebrew hammer, who is going crazy in the postseason. and this beast mode thing? priceless.
5. teddy's birthday. he'll be 27. i need to think of a present. he wants a party where i make him homemade pretzels. i think i can manage that. he's pretty easy.
6. my sister's birthday. she'll be 21! so i'm taking her to atlantic city and getting an awesome suite and we'll go to lush and get foot scrubs and facial masks and do our nails and hair and go out fancy to get her her first legal drink! plus we'll probably do a lot of shopping and eating. that's what AC is good for.
7. there are fewer snakes around when i go hiking, and that is always a good thing because they make me want to jump up and down and scream like a pansy.
   
8. cooler weather means it is time for sweaters, which makes my inordinately happy because they are cozy and hide my giant self. also, it means that we can take out the air conditioners and make fires in the woodstove at night. i like having woodstove fires occasionally, and especially at the beginning of the chilliness spectrum, but once we hit like february and have to keep that thing blazing non-stop, i'm over it.
   
9. crock-pot meals and german-style cooking. fall always makes me want something warm and amazing-smelling simmering on the stove or baking in the oven.
10. the leaves! i'm not a leaf-peeper, but there's something about the change of colors that makes everything seem like magic. just don't ask me to rake them.