Gathering

Our world exploded this weekend. Fire, amber, rust, caramelized everything. Full-on Peak autumn in New Hampshire. Every tree is singing its heart out before the long dark silence to come. We tried to make the most of this exquisite long weekend.

At four o'clock on Friday afternoon we finally made the call to disregard Jasper's recent fever and generally sour state and head down to Boston for the annual Fiveash-Nayak October birthday bash. Polly and Anand are friends, musicians, and both children of intellectual families who value good conversation, good food and good times. We have never made it to this framous party, so we were bent on attending, despite every sign from our potentially contageous children that it would be an irresponsible move. It turned out to be well worth the trip. An enormous warm house will with the smell of curry and chocolate, many friends and family (including Oma and Pop Pop!), and the sound of a good dozen instruments making merry on the porch. Josie fell asleep next to the window right above the musicians. Jasper had chocolate birthday cake at 9:30 pm. We stayed up till well past midnight and suffered for it only mildly the next day.

Saturday we headed home for another gathering: Parker's parents' annual Harvest Party. Similar scenario to the night before, only this time glow sticks replaced the music. Jasper tore around with a solid pack of 3 - 8 year olds, coughing and sniffling the entire time but in a state of bliss. Raw, loud, destructive three year old boy bliss. Josie worked the crowd and stole sweets from under the table. She got her hands on a PB&J and discovered her own form of heaven.

Sunday we headed north and west to meet up with friends about two hours away, to hike Hunger Mountain in Vermont. Pete, Noe, Finn and new baby Olin now live in Pittsburgh. They were in VT for a wedding, so we took advantage of their proximity and the peak of fall foliage to get together. Jasper and Finn hiked nearly the entire mountain (2.3 miles!) on their own, looking for bugs and salamanders all the way. We made it off the mountain in the final shades of dusk, with only the light of the rising moon to guide us back to our cars.

In the midst of it all, I managed to canvas a small handful of houses in our neighborhood. Only wish we weren't quite so self absorbed and were doing more for the campaign at this time.