Weekend Escape

With the weather gloomy and cold, we headed to NH for the weekend, hoping to see some fall color despite the rain. We saw oranges and yellows, but no brilliant reds; it seems we missed the peak, or that there wasn’t much of a peak this year at all. Still, it was lovely to be there this late in the year. Milkweed was everywhere, mostly new and green, but some had dried and split, the soft fibers spilling out. There were a few small frogs in the pond—the bees that had kept us from the dock on our last trip were gone so we were able to go say hello. We saw a flock of ten wild turkeys along the roadside, and then in the back field on another day.

Being at the house in rainy weather isn’t easy; there isn’t much for the girls to do inside. Spending time outdoors, in middle-of-nowhere nature, is what NH is all about. Still, during breaks in the rain we went on short, damp nature walks. Lucia wasn’t enthusiastic until she saw me collecting pretty leaves and flowers in a bag, to press later. She appropriated my bag and began collecting things for herself. We arranged everything on a dish when we got back home.

We took a nice drive to do some shopping in a nearby town, and, on the way home, we saw—lo and behold!—a rummage sale in the town hall, on its last day, featuring a $4 bag sale. The girls both desperately needed naps but we went in anyway and came out with two bags, the highlight of which was a vintage Candy Land. I wanted to introduce a game to Lucia—she’s been eyeing kids playing board games at the library—but I loathe, loathe, loathe the new edition of Candy Land, which is so busy and cluttered it looks like a video game, likely the point of the design. So I was thrilled to find the version I used to play, simple and plain. The rest of the things filling our bags was pretty much junk even by my standards (sand toys, a large ziplock bag of random pom-poms for crafting, a baggie of five jars of glitter), but it was fun nonetheless.

And we got pumpkins—lots and lots of pumpkins. We set out for a pumpkin patch, hoping to pick our own, but the rainy weather killed that plan. Fortunately, we found a farm stand heaped with pumpkins, and we loaded up the trunk.

It is pretty cute how fully Lucia buys into the rural life. “A barn! Another barn!” she kept shouting as we drove to the pumpkins. And when we told her we were going to a farm stand instead of a pumpkin patch, she screamed with glee, “A farm stand!! Yay!!”

It was a short trip—Friday night to Sunday night—but enough time to absorb some of the quiet and stillness. We’ll probably get one more trip in before closing up the house for the winter. It will be real withdrawal to go without a visit in the months ahead.