In the span of two weekends, we managed to visit a pumpkin fair, go apple picking and gather chestnuts. Basically, all the autumn activities! Now we have all the ingredients for pumpkin/chestnut quiches and soups, as well as an apple pie for dessert. Luckily enough, this week marks our dating anniversary so we’ll have plenty of free time to cook together.
Autumn is my favorite time to spend together with Grégory for many reasons. First, it reminds me of the initial months we spent together and the following year when we were joined by a little chocolate lab puppy. As Miles was growing up, he made sure we go outside in the rainy and cold weather, whether it was for short walks or long hikes. Coming back home, Miles always required a bath and we needed a hot chocolate to warm up our hands. And as I look back on all that now, I feel nostalgic and happy and eternally anxious for this to begin again!
Pumpkin Fair
Anyhow, let’s start with the pumpkin fair! Or as they call it here, Fête du Potiron. This year was its 20th anniversary so the turnout of people and pumpkins was huge. We brought Miles along as well and he had lots of fun sniffing out all the pumpkins. He patiently posed for quite a few pumpkin portraits, which was adorable! Personally, I was surprised to see so many different pumpkins in one place. So I went along and photographed all of them!
Back in Croatia, I don’t remember seeing many pumpkins this time of the year. It just seemed like it wasn’t a thing in my region, which shouldn’t be surprising since we don’t do Halloween either. Somehow, here in Belgium, it’s so easy to find these kinds of events and activities. Despite the fact that nobody really does Halloween here either!
The entire event was very craft-oriented so there were lots of handmade items for purchase and to be admired, such as carved pumpkins and fruits. They even prepared a pumpkin teapot party! Even the handles were pumpkins of a different sort – it was pretty amazing! Overall, the event was surprisingly big with many, if not too many visitors but I was still glad we went. It was the place that introduced me to so many new pumpkins!
Apple Picking
Last weekend we did another first together – we went apple picking in a big orchard! Situated in Neufchâteau, Le Verger du Bout de l’Allée organizes apple and pear picking every year during the first weekend of October. We skipped Saturday because it didn’t stop raining and we were definitely not prepared for that kind of weather. Sunday was sunny so we saw how popular this event is with people of all ages. And amazingly enough, this doesn’t diminish its efficiency when it comes to waiting lines for weighing the fruits!
They had so many different apples that I lost count of them so we stuck to sweet red Jonagolds. Having already made one apple pie with them, I can say it was a good choice. Anyhow, we had so much fun picking all the apples and especially pears since that one required sitting on Grégory’s shoulders. Funny and scary, I must say! We also took many photos on both digital and analog cameras. I suppose it’s obvious autumn inspires us since it took us a while to take the analog camera out this summer.
I’m not used to doing these autumn activities so those two weekends made me very happy. They were new and enjoyable experiences and honestly, I’m already looking forward to next year! Also, after the apple picking, we accidentally ended up gathering chestnuts too. While they’re such a pain in the ass to clean no matter if you cook or roast them, I still adore them. It’s my number one autumn smell since I didn’t try cinnamon up until five years ago.
All in all, autumn has just started and we’ve already been enjoying it so much through various activities. It’s been amazing and I can only look forward to more and feel lucky about that! I truly love that the place where we live is so close to nature. It’s a big change from my life before Belgium and I consider myself a lucky girl to have ended up where I did!
