It’s hard to believe we are already halfway through September. Here in New Hampshire, the foliage started to turn early. The ferns were the first to give way. While everything else around was still green the ferns signaled summer was ending with a carpet of of yellows, then rust brown. Then in the marshy areas came the bolts of red, singular and definitive. On the faces of the mountains there were sprinkles of yellow, like someone scraped a fingernail over the bristles of a yellow paintbrush. A couple days later, there were subtle veins of red on the mountains in the distance. It’s happening slowly, but it is most definitely happening. The temperatures started dipping into the 40s at night, the fog lays heavy in the mornings, and the sun is setting earlier and further over, behind the marsh where the beavers live. It’s beautiful here year round, but in my opinion, there is no better time to be in northern New England than September.

We’ve been trying to make the most of our time here, balancing work and family, health and wellness, learning and mindfulness, games and chores, car repairs, as well as doctor, dentist, and veterinarian visits. I haven’t done as much photography, writing, or swimming as I would have liked, but everything has its season, and I am happy with the time trade offs that I’ve made. We’ve been able to see friends in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Mom popped up to Maine to visit her brother and his family for a couple days. Dad did a complete overhaul of his work shed. I scooted down to Massachusetts to do some annual medical check ins (PSA: get your mammograms and colonoscopies, kids). Larry’s managing his post-Lyme recovery (another PSA: don’t get bit by a Lyme carrying tick). We’ve kept in touch with the kids with a daily group question, and have been so happy for them both thriving at university (Mer in year 3 and Elliot teaching for his first year.) We’ve been able to celebrate friends’ huge milestones: completing the Appalachian Trail, buying a camp, having health, sending kids off to college and university. We had a date day in Portland, scoring our annual lobster roll and mussels delicacy at Scales (as well as a few other tasty treats). I’ve watched some football with my dad and played lots of games with my mom.

With that very sentiment of trying to make the most of our time here, we are planning to stay until October. We still have some New England mandatory items to check off our lists, (like leaf peeping on the Kancamagus Highway, one more foray to Boston, the Boulder Loop hike, a drive to Moulton Farms, maybe one more nosh at Flatbread, cider and cider donuts at the Topsfield Fair) assuming the weather holds. And so far we’ve been very lucky with weather. We’ve had a gorgeous stretch of dry, sunny days and cool, crisp evenings. It’s perfect for sleeping, perfect for walking. Just perfect. But as lovely and perfect as it is, and as inviting as the weather has been to play, it is time for us to turn our collective attention to closing up the properties and starting to head south. In less than a month mom and dad and Lily will soon make their snowbird way back to Florida, and Larry and I will resume our Nomading adventures. We still have three months left of this year, and we have quite a bit still store. Stay tuned!