I’m on record as saying that I love summer and fall almost equally, but fall just barely edges out summer in my affections. What’s not to like? Turning leaves, crisp air, wood smoke, the return of hockey season, Oktoberfest beers, fall baking, apple-picking mornings with friends… it’s all wonderful. And as always, I have a long list of things I’d like to get around to doing, and ideas to record in the Great Ledger of Family Adventures. It’s never easy to whittle it down to ten. But when it’s all said and done, here’s what I’m hoping to do this fall:
- Make it up to New York at least once (preferably twice), and visit my grandmother.
- Related: get back into the habit of writing letters to my grandmother.
- Get in a birthday hike somewhere cool – maybe Shenandoah, maybe one of the farther-afield state parks.
- Finally watch Hocus Pocus. Can you believe I’ve never seen it?
- Go apple-picking with friends (a tradition!) and make a big batch of applesauce (and maybe a pie).
- Finally start working on a big family memory-keeping project I’ve been plotting for ages.
- Take the kids pumpkin-picking at Wegmeyer Farms and to the blockbuster neighborhood trick-or-treating extravaganza.
- Re-read Poems Bewitched and Haunted.
- Run a fall 5K.
- Ride the Potomac Water Taxi. How have I still never done this?
Here’s to a fall season of fun, joy, and memory-making!
What do you have on the agenda for fall?
covered in flour 
I have an apple pie in the oven right this second. I pretty much hate summer so when it gets cool and the leaves start turning I am very, very happy.
Do you ever listen to Desert Island Discs on the BBC? I was listening to the latest episode with Lin Manuel Miranda while I was on the treadmill this morning and one of the songs he picked was by The Decemberists. I thought of you since you introduced me to them. I am still slightly obsessed with them.
Mmmmmmm, apple pie – yum! One of my favorite things in the world.
I’ve never heard Desert Island Discs before, but will have to add it to my list! I did know that Lin-Manuel Miranda was a fan of the Decemberists – he even included a “Decemberist-y” song, “Ben Franklin’s Song,” in “Hamilton” early drafts, but the song didn’t make it into the final musical – so he sent the song to Colin Meloy, and they now perform it at concerts! They sang it in DC on tour back in April of 2018, and it was so cool to see this connection between two musicians that I really like! I’m glad you’re enjoying the Decemberists, still! I just love their music.