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Two weekends ago, we took a day trip up into the heart of Connecticut - real Connecticut, not the stuff that spills over from New York.  There's definitely a threshold where New York releases its grip, and the landscape becomes decidedly New England.  It was beautiful.  Too bad it was a two-hour commute (off-peak on a weekend), or we could have been easily convinced to pick up and move there.  We arrived early for my cousin's three o'clock wedding, which took place at a huge white church in downtown Glastonbury.  Then it was off to the reception a short drive away at the local country club. 

The location was already set-up with a long head table, cake table, and a hardwood dance floor flanked by round dinner tables.  The tables were draped in white cloth, as were the seats surrounding them, and each table had a short vase of assorted red-toned flowers (red being the theme color).  In some ways, it reminded me of our wedding - the big difference being that they spent more of their budget on an open bar, and we routed our funds to the flowers and greenery instead.  Different guests, different moods.  They had about twice as many people, and most of those attending were young and ready to party.  :) It was great fun to watch...there were even some older couples getting into the action!

Anyway, that was two weekends ago.  Last weekend, we went with a bunch of coworkers to Wilkens Farm in Yorktown Heights, upstate New York (well, further upstate).  Since we're coming up on Halloween, they not only had pick-your-own apples, but they also had choose-your-own pumpkins.  We weren't allowed to actually pick them, they were pre-cut and placed in one heck of a muddy field for us to wander (probably for insurance reasons).  Folks could walk to the field or ride on a flatbed trailer towed by a tractor.  It all reminded me of an Easter egg hunt for the dumb.  :)  They also had apple doughnuts (60-cents each), hot apple cider, and freshly baked pies for sale.  And bees...probably a byproduct of all the fruit and sugar.

After an afternoon of rolling pumpkins around, we all drove to a Mexican restaurant right outside of Ossining for a bite of dinner.  I think the final bill was right up there as one of the most expensive I've ever witnessed - a combination effect of both the fact that the place was pricey and the size of the group overall.  Once we divided the bill into affordable parts, we packed up and headed for Van Cortlandt Manor's Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze.  I tried to take some pictures, but there were 700 people pouring in every half-hour, so it was hard to stand still long enough for good exposure on a night shot.  Quite an interesting experience, though.  And a great ramp-up to Halloween, which is only a couple of weeks away.