Peak of Fall in New England

The colors of the leaves are unbelievable right now. I find myself pulling over all the time to take photographs of the beauty that is Fall in New England. This makes it difficult to get anywhere quickly, but thats fine with me.

Amy (friend from grad school) came to visit this weekend and we had a blast exploring together. She got here late on Friday night, so we just stayed at my apt and caught up.

Amy likes to stay up late and sleep in like me, so we got up at around 9:30 on Saturday morning and went out to the crowded Esselon for brunch. We both had egg sandwiches on Ciabatta. To enjoy the perfect weather we went back home to pick up Indigo and walked along the Ct River. It has been breezy and cool, but very warm in the sun. Fall weather is definitely my favorite, even in Washington when its raining.

I decided that I should learn some New England plants. I'm starting with refreshing on on the ones I already know. This is Pokeweed that I saw along the Ct River. The berries are poisonous, but are medicinal and may be used internally to treat rheumatoid arthritis, tonsillitis, mumps, swollen glands, chronic excess mucus, bronchitis, mastitis, and constipation. The young sprouts are edible.

We are both big Bill Maher fans and religion questioners, so we went to see Religulous eventhough I've seen it once before. She loved it! After that we stopped to pick up some snacks and wine and drove up to Brattleboro, Vt to visit Lizzy (another grad school friend). The three of us went out for sushi and because of the terrible service, had lots of time to share stories of our internships. We went back to Lizzy's house and hung out with her boyfriend Kody and had some wine and dessert. She made a very seasonal fruit compote with a cashew cream topping. She's a great cook, so of course it was delicious. Lizzy only lives 40 minutes away, so hopefully we will see eachother more often.

The specialty food store that is very old-fashioned and has a nice selection of wine

A country store near Lizzy's house

Lizzy and Amy

Me and Amy

On Sunday we ate a quick breakfast at home and went to check out downtown Northampton. We went in many of the small shops and drooled at posted menus at the restaurants.






After grabbing a coffee at Woodstar we walked to the Smith Art Museum. The special exhibit was called Coal Hollow - photographs taken in West Virginia of coal mining families by Ken and Melanie Light. It was depressing to see the poverty that people in our country live in. It made me feel ashamed of any complaint I have about my living situation.

The artist designed bathroom at the museum

Outside the museum

I was feeling bad about leaving Indy cooped up in the house, so we took her to the dog park and walked the full loop.

I saw these interesting yellow berries along the path. I think its Sumac.

After sufficiently tiring the pup, we rested at home and then went out to The Dirty Truth for some beer and fish and chips. The Dirty Truth is a beer hall with excellent bar food. It was packed because of fall break. Amy ordered a Hefeweizen and it was actually good! I finally found a beer I don't hate. Just like everyone else that has come to visit, I had to take Amy to Herrells for ice cream. She had "carrot cake batter" and I had mocha with chocolate sprinkles.

The Dirty Truth

We weren't seeing the foliage in all its glory, so we took a scenic drive around Western Massachusetts. We went up to Historic Deerfield, over to North Adams and then down through the Berkshires. We got home just in time to get Amy to her bus back to Boston. What a busy, fun weekend! I can't wait to visit her in Boston!