My answer to the Dunkin’ question is almost always “No.” I don’t like the place. I’m not a coffee guy, the donuts always taste stale, and the aesthetic of the place is ugly. But then I remembered what season it was. “Get me whatever Fall donut they have.”
Turned out is was a Festive Fall Donut covered in icing and sprinkles the colors I want my trees.
Later that day I actually found myself at Dunkin’s again (I guess I’ve become a real New Englander), picking up a drink for somebody else. This Dunkin’s was slightly more interesting because it was in an old bank building. While I was there I got myself a cider and an Apple Crisp Donut. So I pretty much had their entire Fall menu today. It’ll get even more interesting in October.
I’ve said it before in this die-ary, and I’ll say it again. The holidays make me go places I usually don’t. And I mean that so much more profoundly than just with mere donut shops.
Our big event today was that we all went to “the barn.” My eldest rides horses, so we’re regularly at the stables in the next town over. It’s a great setting—surrounded by woodland and feeling a million miles away from the rest of our lives. During last year’s die-ary some of my fondest memories were wandering through Halloween-decorated stables at shows. And at the end of the month we’ll be hitting up a Fall fair because my daughter is riding there.
It was a special occasion because we were surprising her with a horse. We didn’t buy her one. We leased her one. Because you can apparently do that as long as you don’t put too many miles on it and get its oil changed on schedule. It basically means that instead of switching between a bunch of the stable’s horses for her lessons and shows, she’ll have a dedicated horse that she can ride and then drop by anytime to feed and care for. It was a big moment. The beginning of a beautiful friendship, as Bogie said. I think she’s horses forever.
The forest around the barn hadn’t yet turned the colors of a Dunkin’ Festive Fall Donut, nor had the barn decorated for Halloween yet, but with a cider in my hand, the chill air on my back, and the rustic nature of the stables around me, it felt like an extremely Fall place to be.
But that also might be because we have to pass a road called Witches Spring to get there.
