The Beauty of Fall

We've been enjoying the colors of fall and mild temperatures in Virginia.  I went with Lyndsay today to get pumpkins wearing capris and sandals.  Wait, I was wearing capris and sandals NOT the pumpkins. Let me try again: I was not wearing pumpkins, I was wearing capris and sandals when we....  oh, never mind.

Summer is my favorite season but Fall is a very close second.  I love the colors and the smell.  I love the crunch of leaves beneath my feet.  I especially love the flavors of fall: apples, pumpkin treats, cider, etc.

When we began planning this road trip I knew if we were going to do it, it had to be soon.  I think the decision was made around June but being that we live in Maine, we were coming into the best time of the year to be in New England; at least in my opinion.  Summer is when we spend our weekends at our lake house.  It's where family gathers almost every weekend to enjoy everything that the lake house has to offer.  We generally begin our day with morning coffee on the deck overlooking the lake and we end our day on the same deck watching the setting sun.  We really don't move much from that spot throughout the day - maybe a few feet to get out of or into the sun depending on whether we are needing to absorb or escape the sun's rays, or going for a swim, tooling around in the kayak or for a ride on the jet ski.  The point is, the lake house is the only place I want to be in the summer.  This sunset picture was taken at the lake house by my niece Kiley.  It's one of my favorite photos of the summer.  This has not been Photoshopped or edited; Kiley captured the true beauty of the end of a beautiful day at the lake.

Once summer is over - which for us Mainers is early September - we begin to enjoy the changing season earlier than most in the country.  I decided that we weren't going to miss it; the road trip would just have to wait until after peak foliage.  I can't take credit for this photo; nor was it taken at our lake house but it truly represents the awesomeness of Fall in Maine.

You can see why we didn't want to miss it.  So, leaving just days after "peak foliage" became the plan.  What I hadn't thought of, however, is that we would enjoy the explosion of fall at each leg of our journey (duh, it only made sense).  Needless to say, there will be more pictures of Fall in future posts.

Lyndsay, Olivia, Steve and I went back to Old Downtown Fredericksburg yesterday to meander through the shops we didn't have time to explore last week.  I love taking random photos of things that catch my eye.  DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be a photographer and these pictures were taken with my iPhone (although the 4S does have a great camera), so please don't be too critical of my lack of photo-talent and creativity.

I didn't purchase anything for myself but I did pick up a few things for some special little people (not in antique shops, however.)

Oh, and one last thing: we picked up a passenger along the way.  The little "bugger" you see on the wing of Lady Bug Girl "hopped" in my shopping bag and has decided to join us on our Road Trip.  Our (almost) 7-year-old grandson, Noah, decided to name him Jumpy.  Jumpy's adventures will be captured on film...wait, memory chip, as well.  I thought about giving him his own blog but that's just too much work.  So, introducing Jumpy...