Monday, October 13, 2008

New England fall weekend

This was Columbus Day weekend in the United States. This is traditionally a weekend when the roads here are swamped with out-of-staters driving slowly 'leaf peeping'. As the weather was just stunningly gorgeous, with not a cloud in the sky and temperatures reaching the 70's we decided the heck with petrol prices - we'd head out in the car in search of fall foliage to photograph too! Although a lot of the colours seemed very muddy, and we didn't think the colour was necessarily at its peak, there were still some beautiful sights.

forsale
What's for sale? Not the lone pumpkin, or even the house! It's the dead corn stalks! Yes, really! I don't know what it is about dead cornstalks, but Americans (around here at least) like to decorate their porches and mailboxes with them in the fall.


yankeecandle
We drove past the insanity that is Yankee Candle ("the scenter of the Universe"!) beginning in the fall all the way through to the New Year. You'd think they didn't sell candles in New York and New Jersey. Parking two deep on the grass! I don't need candles that badly! Nor do I need to visit their version of "Old World Europe where fairytale dreams come to life and every day is Christmas." Yuck! I suppose for many Americans it's very original and 'cute', but we moved on to some authentic New England scenery just a few miles down the road.

chicken
That's a real live (and very noisy) chicken in the front yard of this house!

hitchingpost
A hitching post with burning bush.

fallfestival
Small town New England celebrating with a 'Fall Festival'. Games for the kids, lots of things to eat (fried dough with maple cream - yumm!), crafts being sold, music and dance performances (we missed the Morris dancers though - would have liked to see them), and lots of money being generated for local causes like Boy Scouts.

balloon
Every now and then a balloon escaped . . .

tree
Despite the general muddiness (to my mind) of the colours, there were still some stunning trees!

leaves

10 comments:

Simple Answer said...

I guess cornstalks on the porch could be weird. I find it much weirder to see dead cornstalks in someone's front yard here. It seems odd to grow corn in your yard in the desert. But...I've tasted the corn here. It should be pig feed. Not sweet.

Anyway, beautiful pix!

Karen said...

oh Fall how I love thee :) There aren't many trees here to get that beautiful New England look :)

Anonymous said...

I get the impression that your Autumn is colder than ours so far but I love that blue sky!

Anonymous said...

Dead cornstalks? Why? LOL And, don't they sell Yankee Candles at Target or Walmart?

Those photos are awesome. Makes me realise how much I really miss four seasons. Feel free to post more any time for those bloggie pals living in the South. Hehe!

Daffodilly said...

Yummy photo's!

Mutter said...

What stunning colours! It makes Hong Kong seem very grey. How I miss Autumn back home.....

Mom/Mum said...

oh what gorgeous pictures. I love love love fall colours, but I too marvel at the insanity that is dead cornstalks decorating porches and mailboxes round my way too...

Almost American said...

Thanks for the compliments on the photos. I'm glad (I think) that dead cornstalks as decoration is not confined to New England.

Crunchie Mummy - of course they sell candles at Target and Walmart, but at Yankee Candle you are buying the experience of buying a candle.

Paradise Lost In Translation said...

Wow lovely photos. I need to get better at posting photos. Those Fall colours are pretty amazing for 'muddy colours'. I'd need my shades if they got any less muddy.
I've linked you on my blog & I'll be coming back to visit again. I'm only just begiinning to read & comment on blogs. I'm a slow starter!

~closed~ said...

Ohhhh I am sooo very jealous. We have a few maple trees in our neighborhood that have finally started to turn. They're GORGEOUS. I love your pics and your porch.

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