Our Fall Fixes

Fall is here! There's just no place on earth like autumn in New England. It's both mine and James' favorite season. Dry, crisp air, blazing fall foliage and of course, the start of fair season. Last weekend we ventured over to the Durham Fair. I've been going to this fair since I was a little kid. I used to enter my "My Little Pony" collection as a youth exhibit - as you can imagine it was quite a collection - and one year I even convinced my parents to buy me a black and white floppy-eared rabbit (who we named Roger) at the fair. Ahhh, the memories. So we bundled up and braved the crowds for a night full of tractor pulls, fried food, handicrafts and lots of furry farm animals. Can you guess what was my favorite part???

Yum! Chocolate covered banana!

After that, it was definitely time to call it a night...we were ALL pooped out!

Just in case the fair wasn't enough to get our fall fix, we also made a trip to one of our favorite orchards for some apple picking. Three bags of apples, a few hours and a very messy kitchen later, we had ourselves some fresh apple pie! I just love fall!

mmm...warm apple pie!

Swallow Spectacle

Connecticut isn't exactly the first place most people think about when they imagine wildlife spectacles significant enough for the pages of National Geographic. After spending ten days surrounded by the untouched beauty and spectacular wild things of the Galapagos Islands, it was going to be hard to find anything our state could offer to match what we had just experienced. Lucky for us, early fall is the perfect time (the only time) to view one of our states own natural wonders - the dance of the swallows! Desperate to keep our wildlife adventure alive (or face immediate and significant withdrawal), we spent an afternoon on the boat, arriving at the mouth of the Connecticut River (where it empties into Long Island Sound) just before dusk - and just in time to see almost 500,000 tree swallows bed down for the evening.

Every fall, during the months of September and October, tree swallows congregate in the lower Connecticut River during their southward migration. In the evening, the birds fly from up to 25 miles away to roost on a island called Goose Island, that is 100% covered with an invasive plant, a large reed called Phragmites australis. At dusk they converge near and over the island. The giant flock of birds create an amazingly graceful "ballet" in the sky and eventually form a massive funnel just after sunset and plunge themselves down into a communal roost in the marsh for the night. It is truly an amazing sight to see. If you have been lucky enough to experience it in person, you know these pictures and video clips don't do it justice, you really must be there to see and hear it yourself.

Left: the backseat crew: me, Summit, mom and dad. Right: old boat on the river

Left: Goose Island (Phragmites and gathering swallows). Right: swarm o' swallows

Left: Dancing the swallow ballet. Right: The final funnel

So thank you swallows, for making our transition back to Connecticut a little easier. It's nice to know we have our own wild things right here in our backyard. We'll see you again next year.

heading home...

We're Back!

We're back from our honeymoon in Ecuador. And, of course, back to reality too. It's been hard coming down from our South American high. Our trip was simply amazing. Too difficult to convey the awesomeness of the Galapagos in words alone, so here are a few pictures and video for you. I have big plans to put together a website with a day-by-day recap (really, do you expect any less, haha) but it will take another week or two. I'll be sure to post about it when I'm done. Also, for those interested, more wedding pictures and project recaps are coming as well. Stay tuned!

Sea kayaking in front of one of our hotels and getting ready to snorkel with sea turtles!

Believe it or not, that's a LITTLE tortoise!

This guy's five times older than me and he weights fives times what I do! Do you see ET in that face?

Galapagos Marine Iguana (he's HUGE) and blue footed boobies. Both only found in the Galapagos.

swimming with a sea turtle

snorkeling with playful sea lions

Just Married!

James and I are currently waiting to get on our plane to Ecuador and to our final honeymoon destination, the Galapagos Islands, but I thought I'd check in to report that everything went so perfectly on Sunday! It was truly a magical day! We can't wait to share all the details with you, but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures from our amazing photographer, Olivia posted on her blog.

Today is the Day!

A few pictures from our practice session and lunch yesterday.

The Joy of Receiving

Recently, James and I have been showered (literally) with gifts. I very genuinely enjoy giving gifts more than receiving them, but lately the receiving part has grown on me. Maybe it's all the new shiny appliances in our kitchen that has won me over, I don't know =). In any case, both James and I are so grateful for all the new toys we've received - just for getting hitched! I'd share all the wonderful gadgets we've gotten (including all the camping and outdoor goodies from REI) but I'm sure none of you are as in love with our stuff as we are. One gift I would like to share with you is something we received from one of my closest, oldest girlfriend's (my MOH, Caitlin) mother - who, growing up, was like a second mom to me. Being a school teacher, Jane is incredible crafty and creative and her talents really shown through in her shower gift. Check it out! She did it all herself, I'm so impressed! James and I will definitely enjoy this one!

Tub o' drinks - each one with a special "drink" date and a poem to match. Click on each photo below to read the poem.

She didn't forget Summit!

It was such a special gift, one of my favorites (James' and Summit's too!). Thanks Jane, you really outdid yourself with this one! We'll think of you when we drink every bottle.

On a similar, but slightly different note, James and I finally got around to making labels for our own homemade wine. Do you like? I think it's a perfect portrait!

Summit and her mug.

Stalking the Forecast

I know it doesn't do any good to worry about what Mother Nature has in store for our wedding day. There is nothing I can do about it so why worry, right? This is mostly the train of thought I'm sticking to, but with tropical storms hitting the East Coast for the last two weekends and a good deal of our wedding taking place in the out-of-doors, I'm hoping Mother Nature decides to shine her good light down on us on September 6th.

Today was the first day our date showed up on the Weather.com 10-day forecast. Everyone knows these things are always wrong this far out, but it won't stop me from checking the forecast everyday, probably ten times a day. So far, so good!

Additionally, I'm hoping the sky is clear on September 6th because we'll be able to enjoy an (almost) full harvest moon!