On to Tuesday…

While thousands of people poured into D.C. in support of the Colbert/Stewart rally, I fled, seeking pumpkins.

It was a glorious day for a walk and drive in the countryside. The colors in the farmland were just beginning to show, really.

When I got out to Homestead Farm, I found it had already been taken over:

Luckily, no one seemed to be haunting the pumpkin patch, so I found two excellent specimen.

At the farm stand, I also picked up some apples, vegetables, and a large bowl of squash. They had a wide assortment of gourds, too.

As usual, their animals were excited to greet visitors to the farm.

Since our last visit over Labor Day weekend, the farm has some new residents:

On Sunday, Rudi headed out for a mid-afternoon bike ride, while I got into costume:

It’s surprising, really. I’ve been able to braid my hair for 30 years and have complete muscle memory for it. But braiding it around a coat hanger? Immensely challenging…

Wielding fun hair spray? Totally fun. I wonder how my office would feel if I became a redhead more often…

While Corey had captured Mr. Nilsson’s antics accurately, he just refused to wear a monkey costume… We made do.

I hope your Halloween weekend was equally enjoyable. Did you dress up? Go to parties? Take your wee ones trick or treating? Hand out candy?

May you only have encountered friendly ghosts on your rambles and may your candy bucket remain filled for days!

Today began with a lie-in. I didn’t get up until noon, which was just fine from my body’s perspective. I haven’t been feeling well this week and clearly my body thought we needed some more sleep.

After a hearty bowl of oatmeal and berries, we decided to forgo the chores we should be working on and instead go out and enjoy the sunshiny weather.

I called up Sarah and the three of us headed out to the Maryland “countryside” (really, it seemed more like less developed suburbs…) in search of cider doughnuts. Not only did we find them, but they were in such short supply that when we finally got them, they were fresh and hot!

Having accomplished that goal, we decided to see if we could find Sarah some unpasteurized cider. Because I prefer my cider hot and with cinnamon sticks, I don’t tend to notice the difference between raw cider and its pasteurized sibling. But Sarah prefers hers straight up and cold, where I imagine the difference is terribly noticeable.

We hit the road and headed south, trying to make what Google said would be a 70 minute drive into the 58 minutes before the farm stand closed. As we hit Olney town center, we knew all hope was lost. Feeling slightly dejected, when we passed a different farm stand, we decided to pull in to see if anything they had for sale could make up for the loss. They had a sign up for cider, so Sarah decided that it was better to have the processed cider than none at all and asked the girl for a half-gallon. Well, you could have heard our cries of joy up the road when the girl turned and asked if Sarah preferred pasteurized or non! We picked up a bottle, too, and are going to do a compare and contrast with some I bought last week at the farmers’ market.

After we dropped Sarah off to enjoy her cider with the lamb stew she had cooking in her crock pot, I suggested to Rudi that we should do our cat litter buying up in Columbia Heights and combine it with dinner at Pete’s. I haven’t had our favorite D.C. pizza in ages and it just felt like the right way to end a fun Saturday out.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to get some things done — I need to hit the garden, the tomato paste needs to be made, and a heap of laundry awaits my attention. But after a stressful week, it was nice to leave all our woes at home and just to go out in the car with friends in pursuit of some Northeast soul food.

This week’s Ten on Tuesday topic from Carole is Ten Things to Love about Fall:

1. Halloween: I believe that once upon a time this holiday was relegated to the kids, but no more. Adults have finally remembered how much fun it is to play dress-up. Plus, you get to carve a pumpkin and eat … er, I mean … hand out chocolate.
2. Thanksgiving: Another great holiday filled with eating, watching parades, and hanging out with the family. Plus, it marks the beginning to the Christmas season. But that’s another post.
3. Cooler days: While I love a hot day at the beach, I’d much prefer to count a year’s days that top 90 degrees on a single hand. Since this year I’d have to work through both of mine and then borrow six more friends’ hands, finally reaching several days of 60s and 70s in a row has been lovely. Plus, for the first time in months the a/c isn’t going 24/7.
4. A change in wardrobe: D.C.’s weather usually leaves us with all of our clothes strewn about the apartment, waiting to figure out if you’re really done with tanks and shorts until December. But at the same time, you do get to be reunited with your long sleeves and jeans and handknits.
5. Faster knitting production: While I do keep knitting year-round, you definitely slow down when your yarn starts to stick to you in June. I have a new pair of socks (pictures tomorrow, maybe) that I finished on Sunday night and am plowing away on several others, as well as a hat for a friend.
6. Cooler nights: With the window open, the Burrow cools off at night, which encourages cuddling, pulling up the duvet, and snuggling with the cats. Also, cozy pajamas, which I love.
7. The World Series: My team, the Mets, did not make the playoffs this year, nor did the hometeam, the Nationals. In instances like this, I root in favor of teams in the Northeast (Boston first, then the Yankees) and against the Braves. Finally, I root for the National League over the American League, because the designated hitter rule is stupid. Yes, it is a complicated system of sometimes conflicting allegiances.
8. Fall foods: Soup is no longer too hot to contemplate. Stews re-enter my life. Apples and their various baked dishes become a mainstay, as does hot apple cider.
9. My folks: October contains my parents’ anniversary (38 this year) and both their birthdays. It always seems like the month is a bit of a tribute to them.
10. Fall foliage: The colors of the mid-Atlantic are not as luscious as those of New England, lacking, as they do, the vibrant sugar maples. Yes, their golds are lovely, but it’s just not the same without those glowing reds. I’m feeling a little bittersweet about including this one because there is a possibility I won’t get home to see the New England colors this year for the first time since moving away. My heart breaks a little bit about it (particularly in combination with the previous item), but I saved it for last to minimize my likelihood of ending up in tears. Think it worked?

What do you love about the fall?

Down here in the mid-Atlantic, we still have plenty of end-of-summer produce mixed in with the fall fruits and veggies.

At the farmers’ market this morning, I picked up:

• The final nectarines of the season
• A couple of bunches of basil
• Fresh ginger
• The very last broccoli that hadn’t already been snatched up (this is just coming into season again and, apparently, was the popular vegetable this morning)
• A handful or two of baby Brussels sprouts for Rudi
• Che berries (In my ongoing quest to try all the great, weird things that grow locally, I picked a pint of these up; if I’d known they’d taste like watermelon, I might have passed.)
• A sweet potato
• A quart of apple cider
• Chestnuts
• A trio of dahlias
• Cheese and milk

Next week I need to remember to buy more butter, as I forgot I was out of commercial butter and had to resort to putting my good, expensive, farmers’ market butter in tonight’s apple brown betty. Granted, you could actually taste the buttery flavor in the topping in a way I doubt would have been achieved with a stick of normal butter, but, still, I think we’d better save that for a treat, rather than it becoming standard practice.