Catnip for fall lovers I’ve been on a “peak fall” binge. A couple weeks ago, I traveled up to the Catskills to report on cookbook author Alison Roman’s grocery store, and I indulged in all things cozy. This weekend, I ran the theme back with a quick trip to America’s lobster souvenir capital, Portland, Maine. This wasn’t a work trip. I married into a family that has a vacation home in Vacationland, not in Portland but on an island nearby. That may sound glamorous, but it didn’t feel that way when we were closing the house for the year — on our hands and knees scrubbing mouse droppings out of the 100-year-old floors. Every fabric item — towels, couches, bedsheets, mattresses — needed to be stored in airtight containers (plastic bins, double bagged Heftys, a duct tape-sealed tarp) so they wouldn’t be destroyed by rodents over the winter. But there was some time to enjoy the setting. The foliage, just past-peak, was glorious. The air was crisp. I swam in the frigid Casco Bay with a family friend. An excerpt from comedian John Hodgman’s book “Vacationland” came to mind as soon as I lowered myself into the water: “The ocean in Maine is traumatically cold. If you make the mistake of going into it, every cell in your body will begin shouting the first half of the word ‘hypothermia’ into your brain; the second half will simply be frozen tears.” It was exhilarating. TIP |
