Mountain Day!

About time. We had a week of gorgeous weather, then weeks of rain, and today was perfect: crisp and beautiful. Baldwin made plans weeks ago to go apple picking in the morning, and even though Paulina traditionally likes to sleep through the morning and afternoon, she wanted to go apple picking too, so Zaineb and I woke her up at 9:40, with five minutes to spare. (So it was an afterthought. We were caught up in the Mountain Day magic.) Emily is allergic to apples so she wasn't coming, but I managed to hustle Paulina out of bed by telling her to get dressed "fireman style!" which she interpreted to mean "while dancing."

We piled into various cars (Paulina and I were in the trunk) and headed to the orchard, where I climbed trees and terrified Liz and Zaineb ("I'm finally getting over my crippling fear of heights!" I cried while perched on the tallest branch of an apple tree." "You can do that later; now get down here," said Zaineb.) and we picked the most beautiful apples the size of my face. I love picking fruit, and this summer I didn't get to do any. Three hours of apples is pretty wonderful at the best of times, but today it was especially magnificent. I'm sure glad I knew what to wear, though: one girl was wearing a skirt and flats. That's a rookie sign, folks. The Anthropologie ads have got it all wrong: you really can't wear a cute outfit and have any fun in an orchard at the same time.

After another disorienting trunk-ride back home, we all had lunch on the porch of Baldwin, and Paulina and I headed inside to make pumpkin pie. Valuable lesson learned: When cooking pumpkin for pie, DO NOT cut it into small cubes. Cut it in half! After carefully sawing a pumpkin into cubes using a pocketknife, butter knife, and delicate serrated knife made for pumpkin carving, I looked at the directions and got kind of upset. The pies were delicious, even if they took four hours to make. It was still fun.

By that time, it was past 5:30, so we had dinner (delicious mulled cider!) and I did some actual work. Finally, Amy, Kaitlin, Josie, Alice and I watched The Princess Bride, which I have seen more times than I would care to count, but each time just reminds me how wonderful it really is. A wonderful Mountain Day. I'm sorry I didn't spend more time outside, but I have to say those pies are definitely worth it.

Current music: the wonderful awesome playlist this really cool girl made for me. Three weeks left, for those of you keeping score at home and those of you weighing the odds at Smith. Hope you didn't bet too much, cuz you're going to lose it all.