Every year cars and buses loaded with tourists make their way to the state where I live. We have come to realize that Columbus Day weekend is NOT the time to go leaf-peeping. Instead we go either before that weekend or just after when the foliage in our area is still just beginning to show with some of it at peak color. It is a beautiful time of year and I never tire of the colors that surround my home and my neighborhood. 

Ah yes, finally, my favorite season is here. With the heat we had this summer, I didn't think it would ever arrive. But now I'm looking forward to cooler days and nights, sweaters and extra blankets (my favorite is the weighted blanket - if you haven't tried it you don't know what you're missing!), and back to cooking some of my favorite meals. Homemade spaghetti sauce is always a winner. Based on my mom's recipe, which she got so many years ago from and my aunt's Italian neighbor, it remains one of my favorites of all time.

And now we are coming into my favorite time of the year in the Northeast - Fall! The days, and nights, are getting cooler and more comfortable, the leaves in the trees are turning amazing colors of reds, rusts, yellows, and oranges, and cooking becomes a more enjoyable activity as I revisit my recipes for soups and other recipes where I need to use the oven, which I avoid turning on all summer.

Every fall I bring in several plants that I have in planters on my back deck; the 2 geranium plants, 3 begonia plants, an impatient and a New Zealand impatient, a red dipladenia plant, and a red superba begonia. And then for a few months I can enjoy the beautiful flowers until late spring when I bring them outdoors again.

One of my favorite places to visit in the summer is a place called "Castle in the Clouds". The 16-room castle was built on 5,294 acres by Thomas Gustave Plant for his second wife. The millionaire shoe manufacturer (1859-1941) also included a stable/garage, a greenhouse, gatehouses, farm buildings, and a golf course. Although he lost his money in a series of bad investments and was forced to sell, the castle was bought and sold several times until it was bought by a private non-profit organization that now features the castle, the carriage house, a gift shop, an art gallery, and cafe open to the public.