A Wonderful Part of Fall Is Coming Soon - Canterbury's Old Home Day!

Even though the official start of autumn is still a few weeks away, for a lot of us it begins as soon as we change the calendar over to September as that's when a lot of fall festivals, fall fairs and other fall fun stuff starts. Maybe that's just a New England thing but what can I say? We love fall up in these parts and as the season itself doesn't last as long as we'd like before it gets shouldered out of the way by Old Man Winter, we start as early as we can!

Next Saturday, my hometown of Canterbury celebrates it's annual fall festival when the Canterbury Historical Society presents Old Home Day which they describe as an:

"... old-timey fall festival that has become a local perennial favorite. Enjoy live music all day long, animals, children’s activities, local farm products, re-enactors, demonstrations by practitioners of many traditional crafts and trades, great food, informative displays by civic and religious groups, and the chance to meet old friends and make new ones. Visit the restored one-room Green District Schoolhouse, complete with historical photos and displays of Canterbury’s one-room-school days."

Once again this year I'll be there as the "official photographer" of the event (I think this will actually be my fourth year if I'm adding it up correctly on my fingers!) and in addition, I'm actually going to try my hand at setting up a booth and maybe selling a card or a print or two of some of my New England photographs. I'm not expecting to rake in the dough like we rake up dry leaves here in the fall but it would be a real hoot to sell even one or two cards. As I'll be busy walking around the festival and taking photos, I've recruited Amanda to man the booth - something she should have no problem in doing being that she has sold her own wares at a convention or two.

If you're in the Canterbury area and want to stop by, Old Home Day takes place on the Canterbury Green - aka the lawn of the First Congregational Church - and runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. rain or shine.  Naturally I'm hoping for shine or even just mildly overcast but either way I'll be there with Nikon in hand and perhaps sampling a tasty corn-on-a-stick or some other delicious fall fare while listening to some great music and just enjoying what's become a fun fall tradition.

I've posted some of my favorite pictures from previous Old Home Days just to get in the mood!

Hope to see you there!

What a Difference a Few Days Can Make!

Now You See It!

... And Now You Don't! 

I shot the first picture with my iPhone as I was getting ready to leave for work Monday afternoon.  You can't really tell from the picture but the leaves were a beautiful bright yellow and very pretty.  It made me smile that this late into November there was still some pretty foliage to be found in random places.  

I shot the second picture this morning after I returned home from dropping Amanda and two of her friends at the train station in Old Saybrook - big difference, huh?  I guess there's no fighting it, Old Man Winter is traveling in this direction and it looks like he's packed his bags for a long stay.  Seems to me he overstayed his welcome last season so I'm not about to sweep off the Welcome mat nor am I offering him a cup of coffee either!  

Another Look at Canterbury's 2011 Old Home Day

Now that I'm done working those triple double shifts, I've got some time to post a few more pictures from last Saturday's Old Home Day in my hometown of Canterbury. Just in case you're still wondering what on earth Old Home Day is, it's not a day when people who live in old houses throw open their doors and allow people to tour their homes, it's a day when a community steps back in time a little bit and celebrates their roots.  That most venerable of New England periodicals, Yankee Magazine, describes it this way:

"The tradition of Old Home Days began in 1897 in New Hampshire and still goes on every summer across New England. Parades, ball games, and band concerts are the order of the day, while new folks get acquainted and returning folks reconnect with their communities."

Granted, Canterbury's Old Home Day is certainly not as elaborate as some in New England as there are no parades or ball games but there is music and "old time" craftsmen and good eats during which time the old one-room schoolhouse that has been renovated is open for tours giving a chance for old classmates to reconnect while they reminisce over the pictures and other items that have been collected over the years. In other words, it's rather like a Fall Festival served up with a dose of history!

As my cousin Amy, who is one of the co-chairs of the event, and her family are quite heavily involved in the Canterbury Historical Society (go figure, there are other folks in my family who like history!), it has somehow come to pass that I have become the "official" photographer for Old Home Day.  It's kind of a win-win situation in that I get to practice my photography and the CHS gets a few pictures of Old Home Day - plus there's the added bonus of when I get photo credit on their website, they always spell my last name right!

So, anyway, here's a bit of a look at Canterbury's 2011 Old Home Day held on the lawn of the First Congregational Church on the Green:

Everett St. Louis and Jack Kerouack were the first performers of the day

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Visitors take a look around inside the one-room Green School

A young Civil War re-enactor from the Roseland Cottage Education Department

Fred Brehant, a traditional blacksmith, explains his craft to two interested on-lookers

Bob Noiseux offered free rides in his 1918 Buick

Rick Spencer, a historical music entertainer, took to the stage 

Beekeeper Christopher Swift shows off his wares

Erich Steinhagen of Steinhagen Pottery works the pottery wheel.

"Chili Bob" Whatley, an Early American candlemaker, and his wife strike a traditional pose.

James Easton, to the left, does amazing woodcarvins while my Uncle Alton, to the right, talks to visitors about his display of antique tools and furs.

Blacksmith Alexander Kostuk tends to his fire.

The World's smallest Quartert took their turn on the stage and really had visitors' toes tapping -  mine were for sure!

A young trio enjoyed a fall treat of candied apples from the Canterbury Lions booth.

My cousin Dave on guitar and Dave Shaw on the mandolin of Bear Minimum, a bluegrass duo, welcomed Ken Belanger, guest bassist, to the group for their performance. 

Bill Kivic fired up a tasty treat over an open flame with his antique waffle irons.

Emily Noiseux caught a cat nap with her baby goat

Toby, one of my cousin Rachel's pygmy goats, welcomed a small visitor to his pen - he was probably wondering how she tasted being that he's happy to eat pretty much anything in sight!  

Doug O'Connor works on a handcrafted Windsor chair.

Tony Denning of Maple Leaf Farm had some delicious looking maple products for sale

One of the Peruvian alpacas from Burgis Brook Alpacas

Paul Rulli Reproductions displayed beautiful museum-quality 17th and 18th century reproductions

The old Green School provided the backdrop for the stage.

The McV Farm offered very tasty corn on a stick! 

Overall, the day was nice enough to even make a goat smile!

There was a lot more to see than what I have posted here and by the end of the day, I think that the Canterbury Historical Society could declare the 8th Annual Old Home Day a success as the weather couldn't have been nicer and everyone who attended seemed to be having a fine time. Hopefully next year the local media will help to get the word out a little better that the fun family event is going on before the event happens rather than after so that more people can come out and enjoy a glimpse into the past while enjoying some of the treats of fall at the same time.

If you'd like to see more of Old Home Day, please visit the gallery on my SmugMug page where you'll find over 300 pictures that hopefully captured the spirit of the day.

♫♫ ... It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Autumn ... ♪♪♪

It's almost that time of year again. The time of year when those of us who love autumn start to get all excited about mums in their pretty fall colors, plump pumpkins, cozy sweaters, fresh-picked apples, and beautifully-colored foliage.

It's also when the consummate guide of where to find that beautiful foliage hits the newstands - Yankee Magazine!  Their Foliage Issue came out yesterday and I got my copy today and am ready to start turning pages, reading articles, and planning where to head to this year to give my Nikon a good workout!

As some of you may remember, I plotted out a trip last October using the 2010 Foliage Issue of Yankee Magazine which took myself, Jamie, and my mother to both New Hampshire and Maine to visit some of the towns that Yankee had listed as their Top 25 Foliage Towns in New England.

From Jackson, New Hampshire to Camden, Maine along with a lot of wonderful places in between, we had a fantastic trip seeing plenty of places I'd never been to.  I honestly think it was one of the nicest vacations I've had in a long time and I really enjoyed sharing our travels via blog post after we returned home. One of those blog posts garnered the following comment that tickled me to no end and still makes me smile every time I read it:

Yankee Magazine has left a new comment on your post "Venturing Out on Vacation, Part Eight: Moseying O...":

I am glad Yankee's article inspired you to take a foliage trip in New England. I really enjoyed reading about your adventures!
Heather
Communications Manager
Yankee Magazine

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to take a multi-day foliage trip again this year like we did last year but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to fit in some shorter jaunts on my days off.  After all, there isn't a single state in New England that's too far away for a nice day-trip and I do like to drive!  Now I just need to dive into the magazine and plot out some trips.  Anyone care to join me?

What Grows Up, Must Come Down ... Into My Yard!

Okay, so ... how did it get to be November already? What - may I ask - happened to October? Considering it's one of the months with 31 days, you would think it would last a little longer but oh no ... not October ... it goes by like it thinks it's February during a non-leap year! Which figures because October is hands-down my very favorite month of the year and I always hate to see it end.

Speaking of ending, this tree here is the lone tree that stands in the yard here at my humble abode. It's a rather large tree and, as such, possesses quite a few leaves which turn several lovely shades of orange and yellow during my most favorite season of all. Unfortunately, though, those leaves eventually drop after ending their autumn show and we end up with a carpet of leaves on the lawn which then has to be raked up. It's one of those rites of the season that all of us in New England with a yard go through every year.


This year, though, it seems like there are a lot more leaves than usual to rake and bag up.  I'm not sure if it's because the trees produced an overabundance of leaves this year or if it's because all of the neighborhood leaves decided to come over to my house and play and have ended up in the area that I am responsible to rake.

This rather large pile of leaves to the right were leaves that weren't in my yard but had congregated on the sidewalk in front of the house and the curb.  As such, I don't think that they were leaves from my tree but immigrants from another yard.  By the time Jamie and I had bagged up  that batch there and the rest that were just out of the picture, we had filled 10 bags - 10 very large 40-gallon bags that Jamie even sat on a couple of times to compact the leaves down so that we could fit more in.

By the time we got done with those, I was too worn out to even think about bagging up any more leaves so instead we just raked them all into an area next to the hedge on the side yard - a very large area!

These leaves to the left are the next ones that are going to have to be bagged up and put out by the curb for the city to haul away at some point but first I have to go buy some more bags because we ran out after just doing the ones on the street.  And looking at that pile, I get the feeling I need to either buy bigger bags or double the amount that I normally get as that's a lot of leaves.

The worst part is, there are still more leaves that have yet to fall from the trees and what grows up, must come down.  Oh my aching back ...

"Fall, Leaves, Fall"

"Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree."

~ Emily Jane Brontë*

*There's more to this poem but those are the stanzas I actually like!

Friday Photos

Long day at work yesterday so I'm pretty beat as far as posting anything new here goes except that I did have these autumn pictures I wanted to share so this seemed like a good time!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday even if it is Friday the 13th!