Apples & Pumpkins & Leaves...Oh My!

Oh what a beautiful time of year in the North East! As September slowly fades into October and the leaves begin to change, the air is crisp and clear and every road side stand has an abundance of pumpkins and apples...I get excited about the change in my cooking and baking menu. Now don't get me wrong, I love the fresh berries and local fruits and veggies that dominate my summer menu but a change is always fun. And...fall weather has brought such a change!

My head is full of ideas for warm spiced creations of pumpkin and apple, local maple syrup and mulled cider by the fireside! I've pulled out my recipe box, favorite cook books and back issues of Everyday Food compiling ideas and notes and ingredient lists. I've been browsing the spice isles at the market, the road side stands and the local orchards. Next step...

Meeting New Friends

One of the things I love most about my job running a B&B is that I am constantly meeting new people. Each week as new folks walk through my door they bring with them new ideas, new stories, and very often times they become new friends.

Such was the case this past week.

Since it was the weekend after the Labor Day holiday anyone with children was wrapped up in the act of sending their little ones back to school, college students were already on their way to being settled into new dorm rooms and teachers were busy back in their classrooms once again. That meant it was relatively quiet here in the Berkshires for the first time in months. But, quiet often can mean more time to spend with individual guests. And that is exactly what happened with Sherrie and Michael.

When they arrived and happened to be the only ones in the house for the night it was great to be able to tell them they had the whole house to themselves. Sadly, they were only here for one night as we were a stop over in a longer travel plan but even so I told them to make the most of their stay. And I really hope that they felt that they did.

Hummingbird Voices

I started to realize just the other day that with the evenings getting cooler and autumn getting closer my hummingbirds may soon be leaving me. I asked my mother if she knew when they started to head for their winter homes and she thought that it was about mid September.

Hmm, that is just a few weeks away and I will be sad to see them leave.

This year I hung our humming bird feeder right off my screened in back porch behind a large Rhododendron shrub and just outside the window over my kitchen sink. Apparently it was a good choice. Not that we've had oodles of hummingbirds mind you, but the ones we have had are full of personality. The shrub has given them a place to perch between drinks and apparently, for one precocious male, it provides a look-out to keep everyone else away from his favorite feeding spot.

Though there seemed for the longest time to be just one pair of hummers frequenting our feeder I have discovered over time a smaller less prominently colored male and began to recognize the difference between two unremarkable colored females. But, at no time did any of my pretty little friends share space at the feeder. Now I've seen photos in "Birds & Blooms" magazine of feeders just loaded with thirsty hummers. But not at mine, apparently my little buddies do not like to share.

Which leads me to my original thought when I sat down to write today...hummingbird voices.