“I mean, how can you not like fall (unless you’re young and have to go back to school – if you don’t like school, that is)? Is it the reasonable, comfortable temperatures? Is it the lack of suffocating humidity? Is it the new TV shows? The better movies? The great holidays? The apples? The increase in clothing options? The switch from laziness to ambition? Were you once attacked by a large pumpkin spiced latte and now the very thought of an October in Starbucks gives you horrifying flashbacks?” —Bob Sassone
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The Fall haul
M and I went a little crazy at Green Mountain Orchards in Putney, Vt., this morning. We ate half a dozen delicious apple cider donuts, drank freshly pressed warm apple cider and brought home both a bushel of apples (we picked ourselves) and two monster-sized pumpkins (one was 31 pounds, the other 35 pounds).
I definitely see some baking in my future.
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A delightful weekend in October
I looked at the beautiful leaves:
I carved pumpkins with M:
My jack o’lantern is the impishly evil one on the left. M’s is Mr. Grumpy:
I finished reading a wonderful book:
And I leased a new car. Her name is Esmeralda:
What did you do this weekend? Feel free to share in the comments. If nothing interesting happened, why don’t you do something fun now? Try typing the words “scotland’s national animal” into Google. You can thank me later.
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Summer is here – Bah! Humbug!
I know I’m in the minority on this one. But I can’t stand summer. When the solstice arrives, the only thing I celebrate is the promise of darkness’ return.
I hate the bugs. I hate sweating. I don’t care for skimpy summer clothes or sticky, hot car seats. I loathe not being able to bake, and paying out the wazoo for air conditioning. Sun-tanning? Gimme a break. Unlike Superman, I am not solar-powered.
Sure, grilling is great, unless you’re the person standing over the hot coals. Going to the beach is fun, except when the beach is a two-and-a-half hour drive each way. The one saving grace is ice cream, but even that is something I have to limit to a weekly treat rather than a daily one.
Summer days are too bright, too warm, too humid and too long. Worst of all, they’re filled with pain. Because for me, summer is migraine season. Yes, I get migraines all year long. But three of my biggest triggers — heat, humidity, storms — occur most often between May and September.
For the uninitiated, migraines = misery. Imagine the worst headache you’ve ever had, now triple the intensity. Localize the pain to a single location, as if someone is stabbing you in the right eye or at the top of your neck with a rusty ice pick. Toss in exhaustion, nausea, dizziness and extreme sensitivity to light, sound and smells and that’s almost what a migraine feels like. Now imagine having all of that for 8, 10, 15, 24 hours at a time. Two or three times a week. Such is the case for me each summer.
Yet that’s not even the worst part. The worst part about having migraines is that they murder time, they literally steal your life away. When you have a migraine, it’s nearly impossible to work for 10 hours at a stretch. Or be creative in any sort of capacity. Or hit the gym for a daily workout. It’s beyond frustrating.
Summer has just begun and yet I’ve already had three migraines this week. One lasted 20 hours, the second 14 hours and last night’s was a 15-hour doozy. Post-migraine, my body and mind are utterly exhausted from the effort of fighting off the pain. And I dread leaving the confines of my air conditioned and barely lit office for fear of getting another one. Yes, I am not a happy camper, my friends, so let me apologize in advance for any grumpiness I may exhibit. I’ll be better when Autumn returns. I promise.
