Which is fairer, flower or leaf?

(A little Robert Frost aside there, this time of year makes me nostalgic for New England).

While living in Boston, apple picking became an annual fall tradition. I missed last year, but got back on track the other weekend during the annual apple festival in Ellijay, in north Georgia (though Southern apple picking is far too hot!). So far, products from the weekend spoils have included: apple pie, apple butter, apple dumplings, apple crisp, apple sauce, apple bread... (And I still have some apples to use up!).


Some observations:

1. I love autumn. It is by far my favorite season. Leaf over flower, for sure.

2. I need to explore my current home more. During the years in Boston, I was all over New England. Cities, small towns, cemeteries, parks, forests, neighborhoods. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York... I'm starting to realize how little I have explored since I moved to Georgia.

I've been thinking a lot about this lack lately. I may be here in Atlanta for 8 more months, or I may be here for years. Neither is a very good excuse for it. To quote another favorite author:


"At least in geographical terms, the frontiers have been explored and crossed. It is probably time we settled down. It is probably time we looked around us instead of looking ahead."

And later,


"Neither the country nor the society we built out of it can be healthy until we stop raiding and running, and learn to be quiet part of the time, and acquire the sense not of ownership but of belonging."

I definitely don't belong to Georgia yet. But, I should make more of an effort.