We are doing it again! We are living seasonally in New England during the most spectacular time of the year. It’s Autumn and we have made our way back to New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, three of our favorite places. Having lived and worked in New England a few decades ago, we dropped in and resumed life like it was yesterday. There is such deep joy and bliss in coming back to a happy place. Londonderry, New Hampshire is hallowed ground for us. Our daughters reference their childhood through the lens of Londonderry, their abundance of friends on Wallace Circle, their formidable education at Matthew Thornton Elementary, their upbringing at Londonderry Presbyterian Sunday School, their beginning of dance competitions at Melissa Hoffman, their initiation to skiing at the McIntyre slopes in Manchester, their craving for poetry because of Derry’s own Robert Frost, and their love for all things apple at Mac’s Apples. Our memories are as sweet as Mutsu Apples. Why do we remember so much about New England through our taste buds? As we live seasonally in a variety of places, we have studied sensory travel. When it comes to taste buds, we have learned that girls have more buds than men. In due respect to all family members, all of us tastes differently. And the older we have become, our buds are less sensitive, making it more likely that New England food was more enjoyable 25 years ago. Now a days, food that was too strong, say Sal’s Extra Spicy Meatballs or Pizza, today taste extraordinary! And the over salty taste of Legal Seafoods’ Clam Chowder (c 2000) was perfectly seasoned now.

During this leg of living seasonally, we debated the four types of New England taste buds…sensitive to sweet, salty, sour and “Boston bitter.” The tip of your “tewksbury tongue” is best at detecting sweets like Blueberry Pie from the Maine Diner in Wells, Maine. It reminds me of our young girls of Londonderry licking a candy sucker from the Nutfield Country Store and getting their tongue tips into the sugar. It’s notable that New England sour is tasted from the sides of your tongue. We re-learned this by drinking one those special seasonal ales from Samuel Adams. We got zinged again at Rik-lis (pronounced Reckless) in Bethlehem, New Hampshire when we ordered a flight of artisan beer, one of which had a tinge of grapefruit. Our tongues literally went sideways. We ate the most bitter brussel sprouts (BS) swimming in balsamic vinegar. The back of our tongues sprung into action detecting the bitterness. I guess we like this reaction because we keep ordering BS every time we see them on a menu. And if you are looking for a portion of the New England tongue that detects saltiness, it’s all over your tongue. If you want a tongue blast, go to Sweet Shops in Kennebunkport, Maine foran “assalting” Sea Salt Caramel. Boom. When it comes to smell, living seasonally has taught us that taste and smell are closely related. Most of the descriptive terms and New England phrases we have for smell areassociated with food. Visiting a Yankee Candle shop brought this to our attention, especially taking a good whiff of Maple Syrup candles, S’Mores, Spicy Apples and even Fresh Baked Cookies. What aroma do you associate with a forest of red maples or the seacoast, especially one where lobsters are harvested? These smells have embedded themselves in our long-term memory of happiness. They just have to be found again!

While in Maine, you can close your eyes, refrain from touching anything, cover your ears, and not eat anything (at least for part of the day), but smell of Maine is part of the New England air that you must enjoy with every breathe. You smell with every breathe you take and that’s around 20,000 times a day in New England. As Diane Ackerman says in A Natural History of the Senses, “Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.” New England smells are almost impossible to describe. Venture there and you are exposed to thousands of aromas with a limited vocabulary. Walk into any forest this time of year and you will whiff evergreen, crisp leaves, golden rod, nutty, oaky, and musky smells will travel along your olfactory nerves straight to your cranial cavity. As we live seasonally, we have repeatedly noticed that smell alters our mood. When I smell saw dust, I think of my Dad turning on the lathe and wish that he were still with us to share some wisdom. When I smell a fresh baked pie with cinnamon sprinkled in the lattice work, I long for conversations with my Mom. Returning to New England, I’m reminded of what Helen Keller said- “Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we lived.” I reckon that our smell preferences have changed in 25 years, too. Going into numerous antique stores, I still favor the smell of leather, oiled wood, spearmint, and clove. Even buying a pack of Clove gum made me wax nostalgic.

Onto sight, New England may be the singular most seductive region for colors. With vision being all about light, there is something so unique about sunlight in Autumn. As Thoreau would
put it, “the question is not what you look at, but what you see.” Many New Englanders would argue, in their unique, colorful accents, that vision is the most powerful of our five senses. Understandably, they have the prettiest Autumns, the gorgeous coastlines, the cradle of history for our States, the bluest blue berries and reddest apples. I guess the proof is in the pudding. We return to base camp in Austin with over 500 photos,
mostly of leaves and monuments and a few smelly items. New England truly remains a beautiful sight to behold. New England sounds put us in the picture and made this place more than an image. There are certain sounds of this region that are spellbinding. Aside from the powerful Boston and Gloucester accents, when you hang out on coast, the sounds of the ocean are memorable. The ship bells of the lobster boats, seagulls squawking, and the lapping waves at high tide. In Vermont, the church steeples sing out at quarter hour with a few playing complete hymns from on high. As we live seasonally, we find a local radio station that plays regional music. These oldies and classic stations set the happy mood as we make day trips. Setting the dial back 25 years added to the sensory excitement. But it as the serene quiet of small towns in New England that was the most impressive of all. Quiet follows peace followed by deep sleeps and true rest from the sound of busy lives. Stowe and Dorset, Vermont get the prize for the least noise.

Finally, the touch of New England encompasses an entire world of meaning. We have tried to stay in touch with our ole neighbors of Wallace Circle, Pastor Sam and his spunky wife Deb, Bryan and Chris Samolyk and many others. Coming back to live seasonally helped us understand the New England touch. We felt touched by the gesture of love from the Grabowski’s. Most of their big family came by to visit with us and recall their days of youth. I wish that our daughters could have been here to feel this. Good people never lose their touch….of style, class, concern and care. The best of New England remains the native sons and daughters.

Here’s wishing you a trip to New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to experience a portion of this sensory rich region.