The Shift Into Autumn

September 23, 2015

Originally published in the Laconia Daily Sun

Walking through Central Park this week I noticed a few leaves that are just beginning to change color. Even if the temperature hasn’t dropped, the feeling of autumn is in the air.

Queen Anne’s Lace and Wild Blackberry Pie ( Thornwillow Press, 2011) is a collection of recipes , many inherited from our grandparents, of the dishes we enjoyed growing up in New Hampshire. As the seasons play such an important role in our lives, north of Boston, the book is divided into: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Bittersweet, the shift into autumn. One tree and then another heralds the transformation until the landscape is a dazzling palette: brilliant reds, alluring yellows and regal golds, among green firs. The days are shorter, the air is cooler. Corduroy pants, woolen sweaters and knee-socks are moved to the front of the closet.

We shuffle along the sidewalk and keep our eyes on the ground hoping to select a few perfectly formed leaves to iron between sheets of waxed paper to keep as treasures. There are pumpkins in the garden for Jack-O-Lanterns, dancing classes, music lessons and football in the back field.

Hiking in the fall involves searching for red partridge berries to arrange in glass bowls and gathering pinecones, prickly thistles, brown milkweed pods and acorns to make winter wreaths. The window boxes are filled with boughs of greens, replacing the red geraniums and pink and white petunias.

Soon enough the trees are stripped naked and one morning the ground is covered with white frost.

In New Hampshire it isn’t just the colored leaves that announce the fall season, it is pumpkins piled and spread out on lawns or in the front of garden stands. These pumpkins remind us it will soon be the witching Hallow’s Eve, when we all become a little wary of the ghosts and goblins that may be floating through the night air. And the possibility, true enough, that there will be a strong chill in the air the next morning, a harbinger of winter.

Elizabeth Howard’s career intersects journalism, marketing and communications. Her children’s book, A Day with Bonefish Joe, has recently been published by David R. Godine. She lives in New York City and has a home in Laconia.

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts. Of course, I can’t resist pumpkin bread or muffins either. These are the most obvious. There are many ways to cook with pumpkin. The Laconia Daily Sun is collecting pumpkin recipes for the Pumpkin Festival, to be held on Oct. 24. We are hoping to discover new ways to cook with pumpkin. Please send your pumpkin recipes to: [email protected]