(no subject)
I'm hoping that the fact that I've stayed rather sane this weekend is a good indicator that the past two weeks of hellish, soul-eating, depressive funk is gone for a good while. You know it gets bad when I don't even have the gumption to bitch about it on LJ.
We have had some lovely Autumn flavoured days. Attended BOTH Apple Butter Festivals on Saturday. Apparently there was a falling-out between the Farm Museum and the Elk Creek Preservation Society and instead of collaborating on a festival at The Beehive (crumbly cluster of historic buildings) as usual, there were two festivals this year. One at The Beehive and one three minutes up the road at the Fair Hill Fairgrounds. On the same day. At the same time. We went to both. I liked the one at The Beehive a bit better - they had hayrides and all my favorite vendors - and liked their apple butter a bit better (blind tasting with D afterwards!) but the tractors and old cars and music were nice at Fair Hill. Both are five minutes or so from our house. Danielle and Landen came with us but Landen spent most of the time freaking out/running off/being aggressive - little dude was having a BAD day. Bastian nommed a popcorn ball, discovered a love of mulled apple cider and went nuts when a bagpiper showed up and started playing. Blew his little mind. He loved the Highland Gathering and when a bagpiper showed up not moments after we explained to him for the eleventybillionth time that the Highland Gathering (which is held at the FairGround) would not be until next Spring he perked up and went flying out of the building we were in as fast as his little feet could carry him.
Today we trekked up to visit the much-spoken-of Hawk Mountain. Since we can't really rationalize taking a New England drive this year, we figured some sort of foliage-y excursion would be worthwhile. It certainly was. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It's a nice hike up to the North Overlook and I was really proud that Sebastian made it up (with side trips) without being carried once. He was relatively well behaved on the rock outcroppings as well. The child has NO FEAR of falling. He looks out over the valley, points to the River of Rocks an calmly asked me if we could go "over there". Um, no honey, you can't just prance off a cliff to get to the bottom. At least not in one piece. We also found an assortment of acorns and after his pockets and Dougs pockets started filling up I begged him to leave them for the squirrels lest the resort to various acts of desperation in order to get through the winter. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE A STARVING SQUIRREL *shudders*
I loaded the kiddo in the Ergo for the walk down and he passed out ten minutes later. It was nice, having a quiet walk with Doug and knowing exactly where The Boy was. It was also nice to be able to look up for a bit. I got some good pictures of Doug and The Boy. Had a lovely rambling drive up to the mountain. Want to further investigate two B&Bs in the area to do it again. And um, decided that it's absolutely time for new sneakers since mine offered little traction and less protection from the point rocks. *winces* I did think to massage Bastian's legs with arnica oil before he went to bed - hopefully that will keep him from waking with aching legs like he sometimes does after a big day.
The drive did make be very nostalgic for D's and my early courting days of driving around New Hampshire and Vermont in the autumn. I'm so grateful that we got to fall in love amidst the golden light and russet foliage of autumn in New England. It's nice to revisit that now and again.
We have had some lovely Autumn flavoured days. Attended BOTH Apple Butter Festivals on Saturday. Apparently there was a falling-out between the Farm Museum and the Elk Creek Preservation Society and instead of collaborating on a festival at The Beehive (crumbly cluster of historic buildings) as usual, there were two festivals this year. One at The Beehive and one three minutes up the road at the Fair Hill Fairgrounds. On the same day. At the same time. We went to both. I liked the one at The Beehive a bit better - they had hayrides and all my favorite vendors - and liked their apple butter a bit better (blind tasting with D afterwards!) but the tractors and old cars and music were nice at Fair Hill. Both are five minutes or so from our house. Danielle and Landen came with us but Landen spent most of the time freaking out/running off/being aggressive - little dude was having a BAD day. Bastian nommed a popcorn ball, discovered a love of mulled apple cider and went nuts when a bagpiper showed up and started playing. Blew his little mind. He loved the Highland Gathering and when a bagpiper showed up not moments after we explained to him for the eleventybillionth time that the Highland Gathering (which is held at the FairGround) would not be until next Spring he perked up and went flying out of the building we were in as fast as his little feet could carry him.
Today we trekked up to visit the much-spoken-of Hawk Mountain. Since we can't really rationalize taking a New England drive this year, we figured some sort of foliage-y excursion would be worthwhile. It certainly was. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It's a nice hike up to the North Overlook and I was really proud that Sebastian made it up (with side trips) without being carried once. He was relatively well behaved on the rock outcroppings as well. The child has NO FEAR of falling. He looks out over the valley, points to the River of Rocks an calmly asked me if we could go "over there". Um, no honey, you can't just prance off a cliff to get to the bottom. At least not in one piece. We also found an assortment of acorns and after his pockets and Dougs pockets started filling up I begged him to leave them for the squirrels lest the resort to various acts of desperation in order to get through the winter. NO ONE WANTS TO SEE A STARVING SQUIRREL *shudders*
I loaded the kiddo in the Ergo for the walk down and he passed out ten minutes later. It was nice, having a quiet walk with Doug and knowing exactly where The Boy was. It was also nice to be able to look up for a bit. I got some good pictures of Doug and The Boy. Had a lovely rambling drive up to the mountain. Want to further investigate two B&Bs in the area to do it again. And um, decided that it's absolutely time for new sneakers since mine offered little traction and less protection from the point rocks. *winces* I did think to massage Bastian's legs with arnica oil before he went to bed - hopefully that will keep him from waking with aching legs like he sometimes does after a big day.
The drive did make be very nostalgic for D's and my early courting days of driving around New Hampshire and Vermont in the autumn. I'm so grateful that we got to fall in love amidst the golden light and russet foliage of autumn in New England. It's nice to revisit that now and again.