Ode to Autumn

Autumn is fallin down again...

In my last blog post just two weeks back, I was musing about my current love/fear relationship with the autumn season. Autumn means cold, means snow approaching, means time running out to get heat up and running and all of those other renovation worries. But as I was reminded last week after spending five straight days up at the farmhouse, autumn can also mean a level of beauty that is at times downright incomprehensible. 

I don't know if it was the cold spring, the endless amounts of summer rain, or just plain good luck, but I do believe we've been blessed with the loveliest bounty of fall foliage I've seen since we purchased the farmhouse in 2010. Last week, I spent Wednesday through Sunday working on the farmhouse and had the pleasure of taking a few long drives along Route 30 to run basically any errand I could think, from wedding planning to farm stand browsing. (Apparently I just couldn't get through the day without fresh-picked berries and corn from Dutton Farm Stand, a cool 25 minutes from the house...)

Not a bad view for running errands...

These drives set me in a bit of a fall foliage frenzy. The trees of early October were glowing in absolutely every shade of yellow and red you could imagine. Even though I have become so accustomed to the drive from Manchester to Jamaica that I can basically do it with my eyes closed, I found my breath being taken away by every twist and turn in the road. Day after day, these views never got old. It was a helpful reminder of why we first embarked on this undertaking in the first place... because after only one visit, we fell head-over-heels in love with the many glories, both big and small, of Southern Vermont. Nature is queen in this part of the country.

So, instead of updating the blog with photos and stories of all of the fun progress we've made over the last few weeks, I want to dedicate this entry to Vermont herself. I had no choice but to stop the car on a few occasions to snap some photos of the beautiful views that lay ahead and want to post just a few of those photos here. They certainly don't do the real thing justice, but it's a good illustration of why this state has so captured our hearts. So please enjoy clicking through, and if you're feeling particularly autumnal, listen to my favorite "Driving Along Route 30 on an Autumn Afternoon" song (which I basically kept on repeat all week long) while viewing these photos. No one seems to do a country road justice quite like Gregory Alan Isakov!

 

The interior of Dutton Farm Stand is getting into the spirit...

And our yard isn't looking too shabby either!

Hope you enjoyed this small sampling of autumn spirit, and please check back with the blog in the next week or so for tons of new photos and updates on plumbing, painting, and... HEAT! Glorious, glorious, cast iron radiator heat. 

(Furiously knocking on wood...)

Until next time,

Melissa