For our Columbus Day trip this year, we drove to New York to visit my parents and siblings. You know those IndieBound bookmarks that say “Eat Sleep Read”? That pretty much sums up the weekend. I was still knocked out from a cold I got in September, and I spent 25 hours sleeping it off between Saturday morning and Monday afternoon. When I wasn’t sleeping, I visited the Village Tea Room with my sister, an Italian restaurant in Gardiner with my parents, got a bunch of take-out with Stephen, and had Sunday brunch at my parents’ favorite bagel place. I finished up my September book and read through all of my mom’s back issues of Real Simple and O.
On Monday, Stephen and I went apple-picking (and zinnia-picking, and cider donut-eating) with my mom. It was an overcast day, but the foliage was sparkling and the view was magnificent. 
We got Macouns, Cortlands, a couple of Empires, and one of the last few Macintoshes on the trees. No Deliciouses, Red or Golden, because I dislike their texture and find them flavorless. And their name seems like a marketing stunt, like naming Greenland “Greenland”. I’ll be the judge of deliciousness.
Stephen thought the Goldens were pretty good, though. Here he is eating one.
Afterward, we went to the farm stand and bought half a dozen cider donuts for the long drive back to Cambridge. They were warm, fresh out of the donut-maker, so Stephen ate four of them in the first twenty minutes. I can’t blame him.
