Ahhh is for Autumn

Autumn. The most delectable time of year. It arrives with dignity and builds to a crescendo of golden delight before retiring gracefully to rest.

A week ago, I was able to tick one of my Top 3 from my lifelong Must Do List: to see New England in the fall.

Mumps are to blame as the seed for this desire, that and the weekly piles of pancakes at breakfast while growing up. You see, when I was ill my dad would stop at the Public Library (remember those?) on his way home from work and bring me a new pile of books to read to help pass the time. I loved books and I loved having this personalized delivery service, too!

One book captured my imagination during my bout with mumps. I no longer remember its title but it was about a family harvesting maple syrup in Vermont. Maple syrup + pancakes = smile. What a charmed life to have a never ending supply of syrup right from the trees around you! That image, naïve as it was, conquers up all sorts of warm and fuzzy childhood associations. Most of them coloured with the warm autumn tones of pumpkins and cinnamon, contrasted by cool mornings,  crunchy leaves and crisp apples.

I grew up in Houston. Hot and humid for most of the year. But those few weeks of autumn were the BEST of the year for me. Of course our canopy of colourful leaves was limited because of the dominance of the native pine trees and the flat landscape. Rolling over red, orange and gold hills and walking on carpets to match under a deep blue sky... now that seemed heavenly.

And it was. As was the pure, warm apple cider and ... yes, pancakes drizzled with locally made maple syrup.

Yes. Ahhh is for Autumn.

We travelled 1500 miles and took twice as many photos in over our 8 days on the roads of New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. So I will be making lots of collage pages like the basic one I created here. I loved using the FREE single photo templates at Pixel Scrapper  from Janet Scott to showcase some of my favourite photos from our trip. Kits used were 'Quilted with Love,' 'Its Elementary My Dear' from Janet Scott Design, and 'Tangerine' from Persnickety Prints (the free kit when you join the site).