There’s something about the early October air that invites a quicker step and a deeper breath.  The sunny days warm the breeze, but it’s cool now underneath.  It makes me want to pick apples, cook them down, and put up jars of applesauce for the winter.  I don’t think I’ll heed the call this year; too many other things are luring me out of the kitchen.  But every year I want to do this.  Of course, if I were really serious about canning, I would’ve started weeks ago, when the tomatoes and all manner of insistent vegetables were demanding my attention. 

In March an ordinance passed in Barnstead, wrapped in a pretty package masquerading as protection of our water table under the guise of a way to stop companies from coming in and pumping bottled water from that table.