This past weekend I went up to Maine for the holiday Rosh Hashana, which is the celebration of the Jewish new year. Fall snuck up on Maine since I left for the summer; the humidity of August had fled, leaves were thinking about changing color, and the sunlight was clearer. So, so clear. It made the trees look like cutouts against the sky. The wind came from the North all weekend--a sure sign fall has really showed up--strong and erratic as it bounced over the mountains before hitting the ocean in gusts (more after the jump).
There's something wonderful about a new year starting in the fall. It has always, regardless of the Jewish celebration, felt like the start of something new to me. More than spring, even, the season that is traditionally about rebirth in American and European culture. Spring in New England, however, feels like we're returning to something: leaves come back, plants bloom again, and the warmth once again proves it isn't just a fanstasy we made up in the depths of January to get us through the cold.
But in autumn, we're leaving things, moving forward, starting again. The leaves fall off the trees, the ground hardens against growth, and the warmer weather deserts us for the crisp air that allows us, once again, to put on our adorable fall clothes (namely boots, vests, and loafers...sigh). Fall is a time when we set off on adventures and often leave behind what we may need to separate from in order to move forward. Kids go back to school, work gears up for grown-ups (some of them, at least) after summer vacations, and often, people going on trips for long amounts of time depart. It's a time of change, and the season carries sadness, but also excitement.
Which is why Rosh Hashana is perfectly timed. It's a chance to reflect before we set off, a chance to enjoy the beauty and the melancholy and the joy that comes with change of any kind. It's setting aside time to think about the past and how we can become better, truer versions of ourselves in the future.
This year hasn't been easy for me (but is any year easy for twenty-three year-olds? The answer is no). But it's been as wonderful as it's been difficult, and I'm excited for the future. My family has been a huge source of support for me this year, so I find it only fitting that along with my ramblings about the new year, I'm also putting up pictures I took when my mom and dad and I (and the dog, but she had to stay in the car) picked apples in Hope, Maine, on Sunday.
It's a Jewish tradition to eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashana to ensure sweet new year. So we picked our own apples, dipped them in honey, and wished each other a "shana tova" or "happy new year." I wish the same to all of you!
Now, le apples:
Huge sunflowers with my pops, for scale (though maybe he just wanted his picture taken ;).
Grapes! They were heavenly. Best grapes I've ever had.
Cortland apples.
Reach for the
I'm chomping. Wish I'd worn a cuter outfit. Life goes on.
The awesome apple sorting machine!
Again, happy new year. Thanks so much to everyone who reads my blog; it means more to me than I can tell you, and you're a part of what's made this year so wonderful for me! Much love.