Mother Nature, high-voltage style.

For the long Labor Day weekend we were in New Hampshire, trying our hardest not to labor at anything. New Hampshire is about resting, relaxation, getting in touch with nature and with your more spiritual self. That's how I think about it anyway. You're at one with the lake, the loons, the mountains, the bugs... so many spiders! Thankfully I didn't see too many this trip, but I knew they were there.

This trip Doug, my mom, my brother, and I stayed in my uncle's house, and we did the usual New Hampshire things, which never get boring. In New Hampshire we play cards and we build puzzles and we kayak on the lake. Sometimes, if we're feeling really ambitious, we'll take a trip somewhere, like to Mt. Cardigan, which we did last year, too. Mt. Cardigan is a relatively short hike (only a mile and a half from car to peak), but for the last half mile it's bald rock, which makes for some intense hiking for the lesser athlete like myself. My mother, brother, and I were all smiles in the beginning and were still smiling at the end. You can't see her smile very well from here, but my mother is definitely smiling. How could you not, with that view? When you've reached the bald part of the mountain and can see for miles, you start to realize that there's more to the world than what you experience each day. More to it than work, chores, routines, and the like. It's easier to contemplate the larger meaning of it all when you're in the fresh air and can look into Vermont and also see Mt. Washington. Your thoughts are clear, and I'm sure my brother was thinking a profound thing or two when we stole this moment from him. A hike like this should be required therapy each month, at least.

To get back to nature today, Doug and I decided to pick apples - see the fruit on the trees, be one with our food. That kind of thing. We usually go to Drew Farms, but it's a bit of a drive for us. Doug's feeling under the weather with a cold, so we decided to go to a farm a little closer to us and tried for the first time Fairmount Fruit Farm in Franklin. We got our peck of apples, but I'm not sure we'll be going back there next year. Can you see why? The orchard was directly underneath major electrical lines. The buzzing of the electricity was audible as we walked across the rows looking for the perfect fruit. And the poor sheep in their petting zoo were living right underneath one of those giant electric towers! I tell myself that the fruit is probably fine, and that the sheep may not know that they're living under all that electricity, but still. This farm definitely gave me a bad feeling. Drew Farms, we'll see you next year!