Fall In Central Mass

The temperature is starting to drop, as are the leaves, and that unmistakable smell is in the air that means that it is officially fall and it won't be long until snowflakes start falling. This past weekend I made the annual journey to Doe Orchards in Harvard, Mass with my family to pick the best tasting apples in the world (that is not an understatement). Of course I may be biased because my dad grew up in the house right next the orchard and his childhood friends were the two brothers who now own the orchard. It is so much fun to walk through this orchard with my dad because he knows every rock and path in the whole orchard. As we walk along the paths he points out the place where first base was put to play baseball, the path he and his friends raced their bikes, and the fields where he took his AMC Javelin for a drive (until his friend riding shotgun told him about all the apple tree stumps that hadn't been removed). I have gone to the orchard almost every year since high school so I am now quickly learning all the hidden paths and where the best tasting apples can be found as well.

Taking pictures there this weekend really made me stop and enjoy the place even more. I stopped to see things like the fly sitting defiantly on the dropped apple as if to guard it from me (top picture). I really like the picture of the pumpkins all lined up ready to be picked up and taken to somebody's porch. The picture of the father picking up his son to get the higher apples is one I really enjoyed because it was a very tender moment and had the shot not been in shadow I would like it even more. The shot of the apples hanging down framing the full apple tree in the background is another one that I would not have seen had I not slowed down to shoot and enjoyed the beauty of this place that means so much to my family. I hope to return to the orchard a little later in the fall when the foliage really comes out and since we cut our Christmas trees there I know I will be able to go back when there is a little snow on the ground.

In other news, I will be returning to the car idea and I really like the diptych idea that Annie wrote about so that the differences in the two cars can tell a story. This upcoming week I will be away in Bermuda for a class trip so when I return I should hopefully have some warm tropical pictures to show against the fall shots of New England.