Fall Getaway

I am winding down the canning season, at least the water-bathing.  I have a half-bushel of apples left to turn into applesauce tomorrow, and then I think I will begin packing up.  For one thing, the harvest is nearly over, with only a few squash left at the local farmers' markets.  Also, my larder is stocked to overflowing!  I may get ambitious and try to take a full inventory of all that I have done, but here is at least a partial list:

2 bushels of peaches, canned sliced in medium syrup
peach/jalepeno jam
peach jam
grape jelly
grape syrup (see above)
20 pints of salsa
stewed tomatoes
tomato soup (lots)
applesauce (tons)
red onion relish
sweet onion relish
bread and butter pickles
roasted red pepper spread
green beans
cubed butternut squash
chunked pineapple
spiced fruit compote
spiced peaches
peach syrup (leftover from the spiced peaches)

After having a well stocked pantry, the next topic in my guide to How to Survive the Winter is the Fall Getaway.  I find that this helps my morale immensely.  We go to Chincoteague every fall to watch some of the fall migration of waterfowl, to eat the delicious local harvest (crab, oysters, and fresh fish), and to just relax.  Our other family vacations tend to be more frenzied, in a do everything/see everything kind of way, but there is a comfort in our fall vacation.  We return to the same small town, stay in the same hotel (often the same room), and do the same sort of activities every year.  I return refreshed and ready to face the winter.