Can you smell it?

Where I live, the smell of autumn is in the air.  I like autumn.  It's one of my favorite seasons.  I love watching the leaves move into their colorful phase.  I love the sound of them as they crunch under my feet.  I love the smell of leaf piles smouldering mixed with the post season aroma of autumn barbecues.

Around here, the arrival of autumn means more than the sounds of kids and teachers returning to school and the colorful natural scenery.  It means that the short-but-sweet cider mill season has arrived!  I live within 30 minutes of a half dozen cider mill gems, one of them is where I have been going since before I was born (or so I've been told.)

Last year, for the first time ever, I didn't go.  I didn't go to *my* cider mill.  I didn't go to any cider mill.

My little buddy Ed wouldn't let me.

The smell of the freshly pressed, unpasteurized cider.... the aroma of the hot, fresh donuts.... the crisp apples..... the pies.... oh the pies!  All of it, full of sugar and calories.  Both of which I was avoiding.  I let my ed rob me of something I loved, something I cherished, a tradition I actually valued.

I will NOT be letting that happen again this year.  And while the season is still a week away from it's official beginning, I am posting this today as a way to remind me that I can once again, taste the sweet cider... while allergies prevent me from enjoying the pies and donuts, the crisp apples and fresh cheeses can still be mine.  The gooey, drippy, oozy honey, still with it's comb, can still be devoured on fresh, crispy, apples.

The short season begins Labor Day weekend and ends right after Thanksgiving.  That gives me two and a half months.  I'm going to go this season.  At least once.

Sorry little buddy.  You have no say in this anymore.  Probably shouldn't call you buddy anymore, either.