Autumn started here on September 21st with one-hundred of our friends seated at LongTable, which this year for some reason seemed extra-special. Maybe it was the never-to-be-repeated combination of people; or the food (see below for the complete menu of contributed dishes). Perhaps it was the voices absent for a variety of reasons, some painful and some joyous. I don’t really know.

Autumn is, of course, the season of the last: The last grape; the last Roma tomato; the last moment of vanishing light each day, as we prepare for winter. But autumn is also, if we dare, the season of The New.

Vibrant colors open our minds to what’s possible, while sky-blue cool air offers the gift of clarity in our thoughts. I can already see green shoots appearing on the vines, at least in my mind’s eye.

In autumn there are new things to learn and friendships to make, even in our own back yards, if we are open to them. And that’s the point: are the rustling leaves of November the sound of a dried-up and dying year, or of the excitement of possibilities ahead? I opt for the latter.

LONGTABLE HARVEST SUPPER – Sept 21, 2013

Dishes Contributed & the Heritage of their Makers