I’ve seen the big yellow buses meandering down the road, lines of impatient drivers behind them, noisy kids inside. That tells me, temperatures notwithstanding, that fall has arrived.
The most common question I am fielding is about lilacs: Why have so many had their leaves turn brown and fall off early? We had a wet spring, ideal conditions for fungal diseases to thrive, and many are affected. The ultra-dry conditions of August stressed the lilacs, making them even more susceptible. But fear not: They should recover next year.
I recently spoke to Kitty Werner, curator of lilacs at the UVM Horticulture Farm. She agreed that the problem is a blight and suggested that you rake up the dead leaves so spores don’t overwinter near your lilacs.
Give your lilacs a slow, deep watering now, and again every week until we get some serious rain. Bring your hose to the plant, and set the rate at very slow. Let it slowly sink in over a period of five minutes or more. If you have planted any new trees or shrubs this year, also give them a deep watering on a regular basis. This will allow roots to grow — scientists have determined that fall is when most root extension occurs.
Mulch can be useful for minimizing weeds, but it is also a liability. Even 2 inches of ground bark mulch on a flower bed can soak up all the water from a quick watering with your hose, or a nice 20-minute shower from the sky. If you are not sure if the water is getting to your soil, water, pull back the mulch and poke around in the soil with your finger.
My vegetables did well this summer, as they loved all the sunshine. My soil is very high in organic matter, so it holds water well. My spring-planted lettuces were cut-and-come again varieties, so I ate good lettuce all summer. Because I cut off heads instead of pulling them, the roots started up new plants, which produced well. Now everything has bolted and I will leave a few to set and drop seeds. Those will start new plants in April, even when the soil is too wet for me to work it.
When I was visiting a friend the other day, she pulled off a leaf from a lettuce plant that had bolted and ate it. Huh? I always worked on the idea that bolted lettuce is too bitter to eat. But I tried one, and it was good. So I have been tasting my lettuce that has bolted, and lettuce from other gardens. Most tasted fine to me, a few were worth making a face. Of course, I know that as we age our taste buds change, so to you younger folk, maybe all bolted lettuce is inedible. But it’s worth sampling your lettuce before pulling it out.
It is not too late to plant more lettuce. In late August I planted some Black Seeded Simpson. It is heat tolerant and frost tolerant, and matures in 21 to 40 days after it germinates. It’s a workhorse, and I should be able to start picking a few leaves later this month. Even if you plant in mid-September you will get some in October — and maybe into November. Because of the dryness, I did not seed the lettuce in the ground, but used potting soil and cells that I could monitor for moisture levels. When it is well established, I will transplant it into the ground.
Over the years I have created flower gardens that have something in bloom all three seasons. Right now monarch butterflies and migrating birds need lots of energy for their long journeys. Birds need seeds, which are high in calories, so I am not cutting back summer bloomers even if they have gone by.
We all know that monarchs need milkweed — but that is so their larvae will feed on the leaves and become toxic to birds. Adult monarchs do not feed on milkweed leaves, but right now they are enjoying feeding on nectar from goldenrod, Joe Pye weed and fall asters, among others.
As the vegetable garden winds down, it is important to pick vegetables at peak ripeness if you intend to freeze, can or dehydrate them. Woody green beans picked huge will never get eaten even if you freeze them.
You know better than to let your zucchinis get too big, but did you know you can freeze them? Cut them into bite-sized pieces and blanch them very briefly in boiling water. Thirty seconds or so will kill the aging enzymes to keep them nice once frozen. Dump the blanched squash in a sink of cold water, let cool, drain and pat dry. Freeze in zipper bags and eat within six months.
If you haven’t got your seed garlic yet, buy some. We should plant garlic in October, but by then most seed garlic is gone. And harvest your potatoes soon — even if they haven’t blossomed (which is usually when we dig them). I got a great crop, due to all the sunshine.
Every year has its own challenges, but I try not to focus on the difficulties like lack of water. And who knows? Maybe next year it will rain some every week.
You may reach Henry at henry.homeyer@comcast.net
Featured photo: Lettuce bolts when it gets tall and produces seeds. Photo by Henry Homeyer.
caramel-covered, candy-coated, chocolatey taste of fall on a stick
By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com
The end of September is the height of apple season and most of us have fond memories of eating caramel apples as children. Now apple-on-a-stick desserts are being served at birthday parties, Halloween gatherings, and even weddings, as whimsical place settings with more elaborate decorations and multiple layers of sweet coating and toppings.
What goes into a truly great caramel or candy apple or chocolate-covered apple?
Caramel Apple Key to Greatness #1 – Be choosy with your apples
The key to a great caramel apple, according to Jeffrey Bart, owner of Granite State Candy Shoppe (13 Warren St., Concord, 225-2591; 832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885, granitestatecandyshoppe.com), is choosing the right apple.
“We don’t use Granny Smiths,” he said. “We use other apples that tend to be a little on the sweeter side. That will change throughout the season depending on what’s freshest and most available. So we’ve used everything from Zestars and then Honeycrisp later in the season when they’re available.” Because Granite State’s caramel apples are a seasonal offering, he said, it’s important to choose apples that are perfectly ripe and at their best.
Linda Comrie disagrees. Not about the importance of choosing the right apple — that’s very important, she said, but her preference is for Granny Smiths. Comrie owns Sweet Dreams Confections (553-6347, facebook.com/sweetdreamsconfections01), a homestead bakery in Derry. She, too, only makes caramel apples during fall months.
“I try to always source with local ingredients, first of all,” Comrie said. “So I’m thankful now that apple season is in season. I go to local orchards,” she said, “and I use Granny Smith apples. The tartness of the green apple, this Granny Smith apple, really accents any caramel or chocolate or whatever candies you’re going to add to your caramel apple in the final product. When you have a sweeter apple, it can sometimes be too much. And also it’s the firm construction of the apple, which makes it much more conducive because you do have to boil your apples before you coat them.”
Boiling apples briefly, she explained, is a way to make certain the skins make good contact with the caramel, especially if they are supermarket apples.
“There is always a coating,” she said. “You can go directly to an apple orchard, but if you buy from the grocery store, there’s like a little bit of a film on them, there’s a wax on them, and you have to remove the wax.” Even if the apples don’t have a layer of wax, she said, boiling them briefly removes any natural oils that might be on the skin. “You’re making sure that you can get a good adhesion with your caramel. And you want it to stick to the apple.”
Leah Boudreault, owner of Sugar and Slice NH (facebook.com/Sugarandslicenh) in Milford, uses a different method.
“Some people say to boil them in hot water,” Boudreault said. “I don’t do that. I will usually rinse them really well in really hot water and then I will give them a light wipe with some vinegar. That gets rid of all of that heavy waxy coating and it makes all of the toppings stick to it much better.”
Boudreault, too, uses apples that are as crunchy as possible.
“I like apples that aren’t going to get soft and mushy,” she said. “I like Honeycrisps; that’s one of my favorite apples. I like Pink Ladies. And then if I have to I’ll use a McIntosh.”
Sweet Dreams. Courtesy photo.
Paul Cornell, co-owner of Chocolate Moose (184 N. Broadway, Salem, 893-2225), is another fan of Granny Smiths. He makes caramel apples year-round, and the tart, green apples are almost always available, but that is the least of his reasons for using them.
“The Granny Smith apple is core,” he said. “It’s a little bit more tart, a little bit crispier, a little bit hardier, and that offsets that sweetness from the toppings. You’ve got to have a crisp apple. We’ve tried other apples. We’ve had people come in and say, ‘I want to try a Matsu apple. I want to try a Red Delicious apple.’ They’re too soft. We’ll do it, but once we do it, they’re like, ‘OK, OK, back to the Granny Smith.’ For the most part, I think our organic Granny Smiths are just what has to do with all the oohs and ahhs that we get from the apples.”
For Chris Guerrette, owner of Lickee’s and Chewy’s Candy and Creamery (53 Washington St., Dover, 343-1799, lickeesnchewys.com), the need for perfect apples rises to a whole other level. He starts by picking them himself.
“We only use fresh apples that we pick ourselves every single week from the orchard,” Guerrette said. “We use a local orchard in Milton, and we’ve been working with the family orchard for eight or nine years. And we only use Honeycrisp apples once they’re ready. They’re nice and firm and they have the perfect flavor to go with our caramel. The earlier that you get them in their lifespan, the better. And the thing is, as compared to, say, a store-bought, maybe those green apples that tend to be pretty firm, these have a better flavor to them [that contrasts] with the caramel. It’s a more natural sweetness and tartness, just a nice balance. We start with the best ingredients, like the nice, super-fresh apples I picked this morning, and they’re literally being dipped right now.”
Using the freshest possible apples can lead to a hectic apple season, Guerrette said. “We literally will go out as a team once a week and pick the apples in the mornings. And then we have a big event every year where we have to make about 1,500 apples in one week for Apple Harvest Day here in Dover. And then we’ll spend the next six days making a batch a day every day for five or six, eight days. So they’ll be ready. My poor chocolatiers all had blisters by the end of that, last year.”
Dover’s Apple Harvest Day 2025 festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 4, rain or shine, on Central Street in Dover from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will feature a 5K road race, more than 100 vendors, and a not insignificant number of apples. Visit appleharvestday.com.
Caramel Apple Key to Greatness #2 – Make your own caramel, and don’t be stingy with it
The next step to making a great caramel or candy apple is coating it with caramel or candy. This represents two different directions an apple can go in. Candy apples are coated with a thin layer of hardened sugar, usually bright red in color, hence the color name “candy-apple red.” This provides a brittle crunchyness to contrast with the crisp juiciness of the apple beneath. This is the approach Leah Boudreault from Sugar and Slice takes.
“I make everything,” Boudreault said. “For instance, last year I had a really big apple order for somebody’s wedding and I did caramel apples, I did candy apples, I did chocolate-dipped apples. So I can do pretty much everything, with any topping.” But her standard go-to, she said, is a classic red candy coating: “It’s basically sugar, water, corn syrup and food dye. So it’s just really sweet.” The first time she used a candy coating on apples, she said, was for an event that was themed around the Pixar movie The Incredibles and needed a bright red color. “I took it on knowing very little about candy apples. Once I did that, I saw how easy it was. And I have been doing them every year since.” The candy coating provides a substrate to work on, she said, like painting with a layer of primer before adding the top coat.
More common is a caramel coating. Universally, the caramel apple-makers interviewed for this story emphasized how important it is to make their own caramel.
“We use a caramel that I developed for close to two years,” Chris Guerrette from Lickee’s and Chewy’s said. “It took two years of minor tweaks and changes until it became this perfect. And that’s cooked in a big copper kettle for several hours. So it’s nice and dark, and it’s got a lot of great flavors, some like special fall flavors in it. It’s not this kind of old, sticky caramel. It doesn’t stick to your teeth as much as it used to when I was a kid.”
According to Paul Cornell from Chocolate Moose, the only way to improve on a good caramel coating is to use more caramel.
“A caramel apple is a caramel apple,” Cornell said, “but if you bite into a caramel apple at any state fair, they’re thin. There’s just really not that much caramel on it. You bite into ours, you’re up to your gums in caramel before you get to that apple. And that’s what we want. I think that puts us above the rest of anybody that’s kind of competing in this field.”
“The caramel itself,” Cornell said, “a homemade caramel, just makes a world of difference when you’re making these apples. It’s got the right texture, it’s got the right thickness. Homemade caramel, made the right way, the right texture, the right sweetness, and the thickness, of course, is key.”
Reni Mylonas, owner of Agape Cakes and Confections (59 Route 27, Raymond, 244-2265, agapecandc.com) agrees.
“We use a nice thick layer of caramel,” she said, “so you’re getting a good caramel-to-apple ratio.” She said that one of the appeals of a good caramel apple is the contrast in textures between the chewiness of the caramel, and the crispness of the apple. “The contrast of an apple to the type of caramel that we use, is just a really good combination that we really enjoy.”
Maria Marini is the chocolatier at Lighthouse Local (21 Kilton Road, Bedford, 716-6983, lighthouse-local.com). According to her, making caramel for apples involves the constant scrutiny of several temperatures simultaneously. Bringing the caramel to the right temperature can be tricky — a difference of just a few degrees can result in a weak, runny texture or a pull-your-teeth-out consistency with undertones of burnt sugar.
Lighthouse Local. Photo by John Fladd.
“We have a copper pan,” Marini said. “It distributes the heat evenly, but copper pots come in different thicknesses, and the thinner the pot the darker the caramel gets. Once the caramel is at a certain temperature, I dip all the apples in it.” Because she adds a coat of chocolate to most of Lighthouse Local’s caramel apples — “about three quarters of them,” she said — there is an extra level of complexity. “It takes two hours [for the caramel] just to really get cool enough that if I add the chocolate to it, it’s not going to change the temperature of the chocolate, because chocolate has to be tempered too, which means it has to be at a certain temperature. If this isn’t cooled down enough, and I use the chocolate while the caramel’s still warm, it can make the chocolate bloom, which means you get white spots.
On top of that, she said, if she wants to roll the chocolate-covered caramel apple in toppings, the chocolate has to be at just the right temperature — cool enough to adhere to the caramel but still tacky enough for toppings to stick to it. “I have to do it while it’s still wet,” she said.
The caramel dipping process is not without risks. Emily Lewis is a production manager at Van Otis Chocolates (341 Elm St., Manchester, 627-1611, vanotis.com) and teaches caramel apple decorating workshops. Her students decorate apples that have already been dipped in caramel, she said, to keep civilians from burning themselves.
“We cook our caramel up to 242 degrees Fahrenheit,” Lewis said, adding that proper dipping technique is a must. “When we’re dipping [apples] in the caramel, the only technique is that the stick has to be all the way into the apple. Otherwise, you’ll lose your apple into the caramel. And we like to call the actual dipping ‘milking the cow.’ We dip two apples at a time, so it almost looks like you’re milking a cow, as you’re shaking them up and down.” It’s easier on your wrists, she said, if you hold the apples upside down by their sticks, like daggers. After being covered with caramel, all of Van Otis’ apples receive a coating of white, milk or dark chocolate.
Caramel Apple Key to Greatness #3 – It’s almost impossible to go overboard with toppings
In theory, an apple-dipper could stop at this point. You’ve got your apple. You’ve got your candy or caramel coating. It is, by definition, a candy or caramel apple. Paul Cornell from Chocolate Moose said that only the most die-hard of caramel apple purists ask for this stripped-down version.
“We make 30 different kinds,” Cornell said. “We make a plain Jane version. We use that apple for big events — weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties — 300 of them at a time.” He said that customers might order that apple for financial reasons, but most customers want some sort of topping on top of the caramel.
“I’d say we have five, maybe six [toppings] that are the staples of our apples,” Cornell said. “That’s a pecan, that’s an M&M, a Reese’s, a Heath Bar, apple pie — and all of these have different ingredients on it. But our customers have built our apple base. As time has gone on (and we’ve been doing this for 30 years), people would come in and say, ‘Could you put this on this apple?’ It’s as wild as gummy bears. It’s ‘Can you do almonds and coconut? Almond Joy?’ Then there’s different chocolates — milk, white and dark. So you can mix it up. I would say we’ve probably made anywhere between 20 and 30 different kinds at one time.”
Reni Mylonas from Agape Cakes has had a similar experience. “We do some that are just the plain ones,” she said, ”but then we almost always add additional things to it. Sometimes we add rainbow sprinkles to them or chocolate sprinkles or a chocolate drizzle or some type of candy like an M&M. We’ve done a Twix [version] in the past or a KitKat, something that’s just a little bit more decadent.” She said that her shop does not sell chocolate-dipped apples. The concentration is on one perfect layer of caramel. “We add chocolate toppings, like sprinkles,” she said, “or swirls of chocolate across the surface, but we don’t cover them completely.”
“Our signature [apple], I think,” Chris Guerrette from Lickee’s and Chewy’s said, “and the one that is the most popular, is a white chocolate cinnamon pecan apple. It’s based on a recipe for cinnamon-roasted pecans that my mom developed when I was a kid. We use that recipe, then grind those up. We put the caramel on [the apple], then we dip it in … chocolate — an extremely high-quality, gourmet white chocolate. And then the last step is rolling that in the cinnamon-roasted pecans.”
Coatings and decorations can get more elaborate from there, Guerrette said.
“We decorate a lot of [the apples] with some really extravagant chocolate decorations. We actually create animals and creatures out of these, like teddy bears and elephants and fun things like that.” He said the apples he sells fall into three basic categories. “It’s about 30/50/20,” he said. “Probably 30 percent are plain caramel, or caramel with extra toppings. Another 50 percent have [a coating of] chocolate, and another 20 percent are our super-fancy ones with a lot of decorations or shaped like creatures and stuff like that.”
Van Otis apples. Photo by John Fladd.
Jeff Bart at Granite State Candy is excited about premiering a new caramel apple this year.
“It’s our Dubai Caramel Apple,” Bart said. “We make a special pistachio filling. It’s a blending of chocolate and pistachio paste that we’re using in our Dubai bars. Then we’re using the kataifi [shredded philo dough] in the center, so it has that crunch. Then we are dipping it in milk chocolate afterward. There’s all kinds of different textures and flavors, and they all come together.” According to the staff at Granite State Candy’s Manchester store, while a few of the apples they sell are plain caramel, or caramel with toppings, the large majority of their apples are covered with a layer of chocolate.
Unlike many other caramel apple makers, Linda Comrie from Sweet Dreams Confections doesn’t cover the caramel layer with an additional layer of chocolate. She will, however, drizzle the caramel with chocolate once it is firm, she said. If a customer orders a chocolate-covered apple, she’ll make it, even without a caramel layer, if that’s what the customer wants.
“You have to be mindful of what chocolate you use, though,” she said. “You can’t use a chocolate chip, for instance. If you melt your chocolate chips, it’s not going to work the same. You’ll want to use something like a bark, if you will, like an almond bark. Or even like Ghirardelli makes a melting wafer, but it’s actual chocolate opposed to something that might be more of a candy. I’ve done both, but I do find, for me, that using the caramel base is a much better process.”
“People like a little bit of a variation,” said Leah Boudreault of Sugar and Slice NH. She uses colored fondant to add elaborate details to her apples. (Her candy coating makes an excellent base for this).
“A lot of times my customers will come to me and they’ll already have a photo in mind. They’ll send me inspiration photos — ‘Hey, can you recreate this? Or can you do something similar?’ And if they don’t come to me with like an inspo photo, I’ll ask them questions like, do you have a theme? Do you have favorite colors? And then from there if I need help with designs I usually use Google, and I will look at some inspiration myself.”
Caramel Apple Key to Greatness #4 – Be prepared for hugeness
As you might imagine, a caramel apple can get out of control if you don’t exercise some restraint, which is antithetical to the whole idea of caramel apples. If you start with a good-sized apple, then cover it with a generous amount of caramel, then add a host of toppings, before you know it, it has gotten much bigger than you anticipated.
“There’s such a variety of apples, size-wise,” Paul Cornell said. “You can get a 56-count apple, which is as big as a softball when you get it. You get into the bigger ones, people love them because once you put all the stuff on it it’s as big as a basketball. I mean, it gets huge.”
“They tend to be pretty large” said Chris Guerrette from Lickee’s and Chewy’s. “One of these apples that when we’re done with it — with the chocolate and the decorations on it — can be about a pound and a half. They’re kind of a meal you can share with other people.”
The Deerfield Fair runs today through Sunday, Sept. 28, at the fairgrounds, 34 Stage Road in Deerfield. The event features rides, live music, the Flying Wallendas high wire act, horse shows and agriculture events (including pig scrambles), magic shows, dog demonstrations and more. Visit deerfieldfair.com. Hungry? John Fladd spoke to several purveyors of fair food in the Aug. 28 issue of the Hippo, which you can find in the digital library on page 10. Pictured are super-sized doughnuts from Betsy’s Country Fair Donuts.
Friday, Sept. 26
Iconic band Cowboy Junkies will perform a career-spanning show at the Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100, tupelomusichall.com) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $55.
Friday, Sept. 26
Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) presents Gimme Gimme Disco tonight beginning at 8 p.m. This is a DJ-based dance party playing all your favorite ABBA hits plus plenty of other disco hits from the ’70s & ’80. Tickets start at $25.50.
Friday, Sept. 26
A restored version 1927’s silent science fiction movie from director Fritz Lang, Metropolis, will screen at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway, Derry, 404-2928, derryoperahouse.org) at 7 p.m. with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free; advance registration is requested. Register via the Derry Public Library’s website at derrypl.org and click on the online ‘Events’ calendar.
Saturday, Sept. 27
The Beaver Brook Fall Festival runs today 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Beaver Brook Association, 117 Ridge Road in Hollis, and feature live music, an Artisan Market, kids’ activities, live animal presentations, nature exhibits, hayrides, food trucks and more, according to an email from Beaver Brook. See beaverbrook.org.
Saturday, Sept. 27
Pay tribute to Robert Redford by watching 1976’sAll the President’s Men at Red River Theatres in Concord today at 10 a.m. The screening is part of the Civic in Cinema series, featuring post-film discussion. See redrivertheatres.org.
Saturday, Sept. 27
The Jason R. Flood Memorial, the organization behind Pizzastock, will present a show today from noon to 3 p.m. in the parking lot at Kendall Pond Pizza, 7 Mammoth Road in Windham, featuring performances by Clare Mitchell, Parietal Eye, Phoenix Revival and Vermilion, according the organization’s Facebook page. Admission is free.
Saturday, Sept. 27
Symphony New Hampshire presents “Unexpected Stories,” led by Music Director finalist Tiffany Chang, tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Keefe Auditorium (117 Elm St., Nashua). Single tickets start at $20; see symphonynh.org.
Save the Date! Saturday, Oct. 4 The second annual New Hampshire Book Festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 4, in downtown Concord. It will be a celebration of books, featuring more than 50 nationally recognized authors and poets. It is a free, all-day festival supported by ticketed keynote events. Visit nhbookfestival.org.
According to a Sept.16 online article from WMUR, this summer’s drought has hit a new milestone: some wells are starting to run dry. Quoting Ted Diers from the Department of Environmental Services, the article read, “Basically, this is a statewide drought. What we’re encouraging is for people to be very, very careful with their well water, be conservation minded, [and] use it gently.” The NHDES website posts a warning, “Drought conditions continue to worsen. Currently, 73% of the state is in severe or extreme drought. Please follow local water use restrictions and fire requirements, and conserve water where you can.
QOL score: -3 (because see also page 4)
Comment:More than half of New Hampshire residents depend on private wells for their water. Visit des.nh.gov/climate-and-sustainability/storms-and-emergencies/drought.
But relief might be on its way
As of Sept. 22, WMUR’s extended forecast shows a likelihood of at least one day of rain in the next week, with a 90 percent chance of rain. The National Weather Service is more cautious in its estimates, predicting a maximum of a 70 percent chance of rain.
QOL score: +1
Comment:According to the National Weather Service, Concord experienced 18 days in August (the latest data available) with temperatures above average, and 1.18 inches of rain, compared to the 3.36 inches of a normal year. Visit.weather.gov.
Is ‘stagnant’ as bad as it sounds?
In a Sept.11 report, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (nhfpi.org) analyzed U.S. Census data and concluded, “While Granite Staters’ economic well-being did not worsen, it also did not improve. From 2023 to 2024, median household incomes were essentially flat when adjusting for inflation, poverty rates remained unchanged. These stagnant indicators suggest that while New Hampshire has avoided backsliding, many families continue to face persistent challenges meeting basic needs.”
QOL score: -1
Comment: According to the Institute’s report, “A limited supply of housing units in New Hampshire is contributing to both higher rental costs and increased sale prices for single-family houses across the state, making purchasing a home, and associated wealth-building opportunities, more difficult to access for those who currently rent.” Visit nhfpi.org/blog/acs2025.
‘I owe how much!?’
According to a recent study by the online finance website WalletHub.com, New Hampshire ranks second among states with the highest rate of student loan debt. “[New Hampshire] Borrowers owe an average of close to $40,000, the highest amount in the country,” the report read. New Hampshire came first in the average amount of student debt, second in the proportion of students with debt, first in the percentage of student loans past due or in default, and — perhaps a good sign — third in grant growth. Only Mississippi scored higher.
QOL score: -1
Comment:According to the WalletHub report, “At the end of the first quarter of 2025, total outstanding college-loan balances stood at over $1.66 trillion, according to the Department of Education. That comes out to an average of over $39,000 for each of the 42.5 million borrowers.” Search for “States with the Most and Least Student Debt (2025).”
QOL score last week: 72
Net change: -4
QOL this week: 68
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?
The Big Story – The Final Weekend: Since we’re filing this on Monday it’s hard to predict where the Red Sox will be as the final weekend begins. But they’re facing a tough week, starting with three at first-place Toronto and then their final three games at Fenway vs. Detroit. Who, thanks to Cleveland getting red hot, could now be fighting for the same WC slot. The good news is GarrettCrochet goes tonight (Thursday) in Toronto. Which means, if looking ahead like you’re not supposed to do, he’ll be the starter of the Wild Card game if they make it into the tournament.
On the precarious side, they’ll then be depending on rookie starters Kyle Harrison (who gave up just one run in six innings vs. TB in his Red Sox debut Friday) and ConnellyEarly on Friday and Saturday. LucasGiolito will pitch Game 162.
Nothing like the final week of a baseball season when you’re still in the race. So enjoy the final weekend while thinking 1967.
Sports 101 – Which NFL team has gone the longest without winning a playoff game?
News Item – Pats Fumble Away Win vs. Pitt: (1) Not that it takes a degree from MIT, but it’s nearly impossible to win when you have five turnovers as they did Sunday. (2) After two more fumbles, including one as he was going in for the tying score, on top of seven last year, when do you think RhamondreStevenson will next see any action? (3) With AntonioGibson also benched for fumbling, who’s going to be the RB if TreVeyon Henderson fumbles next week? (4) Except for two exceptionally thrown TD passes, 41-year-old AaronRodgers looked like he was on the 17th hole throwing for 139 yards. (5) Where is EftonChism III?
News Item – The Career Legacy – Going Down:So far the college career ain’t going as Bill Belichick had hoped. After another pasting, this time 34-9 to the University of Central Florida, Coach B has dropped to 2-2 while being outscored 91-84. And seeing the 20-something girlfriend wearing knee-high go-go boots on the sideline didn’t do much for the image either.
News Item – NFL First: Vikings DB IsaiahRogers did something no one else had ever done in their 44-13 thumping of the Saints on Sunday. He became the first to ever return an interception and a fumble recovery for TD’s in a first half. And then for good measure he recovered two more fumbles later in the game.
The Numbers:
400 – career home runs for Angels outfielder MikeTrout after blasting one Sunday.
509 – career TD passes for AaronRodgers after hitting DK Metcalf Sunday to move into fourth place on the all-time TD passes list.
4,012,430 – 2025 attendance for the Dodgers, making them the 10th MLB team to draw 4 million. The per game average was 49,537.
… Of the Week Awards
Thumbs Down – NFL and Tom Brady: Sorry, but being a part owner of the Oakland, er, Las Vegas Raiders while doing all that’s needed to be Fox’s lead broadcaster is an obvious conflict of interest.
Stupid Coaching Move That Worked – Mike Vrabel: Going for (and making it) on fourth and 1 from his 15. The last guy to do that deep in their own territory early in a game was BarrySwitzer when coaching Dallas vs. the G-Men in the ’90s. The headline in the NY Post the next day was “Bozo The Coach.”
Random Thoughts:
Besides AroldisChapman and to some degree GarrettWhitlock, the Red Sox bullpen has been an unreliable joke. AlexCora never knows what he’ll get game to game from anyone ranging from pitching well to total arson. How can someone manage like that?
How in the name of HoytWilhelm does Sox reliever JustinWilson get a positive stat when he pitches just two thirds of an inning and gives up two runs to BLOW a one-run lead? But somehow he got a “HOLD” — even though he didn’t do it.
Earth to baseball: HE BLEW the lead in, oh by the way, a very important game and he still gets a positive stat. Just NUTS.
Sports 101 Answer: The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since Dec. 30, 2000, when DaveWannstedt was the HC.
Final Thought – Red Sox Pennant Race Thoughts: Raise your hand if at the beginning of the year you had NickSogard knocking in Nate Eaton with the winning run in extra innings in a crucial pennant chase win as they did in the Sox’ 5-4 win in 10 vs. Oakland on Wednesday.
Ditto that they’d have to rely on two rookie starters, Harrison and Early, in the year’s crucial final weekend series.
Or that, with all due respect to Crochet and Chapman, a guy brought up from AAA in early June would be their MVP?
Don’t agree? They were 32-35 when RomanAnthony arrived, then went 46-27 until he got hurt. Since then they’re 7-10.
On Monday, Sept. 22, Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a proclamation prohibiting “[k]indling of any open fire, including fires built for camping, the burning of debris, or warming,” and “smoking a pipe, cigar and/or cigarette outdoors in or near woodlands, or on public trails,” according to the proclamation on the NH Forest and Lands website, nhdfl.dncr.nh.gov. The proclamation also lays out the exclusions to the restrictions including training fires and certain campground sites. The restrictions will be in place “until such time as the period of protracted drought or excessive dryness which requires these extraordinary precautions ceases to exist in the State of New Hampshire,” the proclamation said.
The New Hampshire Forest Protection Bureau are reminding Granite Staters that summer drought conditions and the lack of “significant rainfall have increased the risk of wildfires statewide,” according to a press release set on Sept. 22 by the New Hampshire Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the New Hampshire Division of Forests & Lands. “It is important to note that with the drought conditions we will need multiple rain events to reduce the wildfire risk,” said Chief Steven Sherman, N.H. Forest Protection Bureau, in the release. “While rain may wet the area for a day, it will take a lot to make up for the lack of rain this summer and soak deep into the soil.” The release said that 90 percent of wildfires in New Hampshire are from human causes. “In New Hampshire, fire permits are required for all open outdoor burning, which include campfires and bonfires. With the statewide burn restrictions in effect, no permits are being issued by forest fire wardens, fire departments or via the state’s online fire permit system, nhfirepermit.com,” the release said. See nhdfl.dncr.nh.gov for more.
Food in Manch
Mondays from 5 to 7 p.m. through Oct. 27 the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program and Fresh Start Farms will hold a Manchester Market at Community Action Partnership Hillsborough & Rockingham Counties, 130 Silver St. in Manchester, featuring New Hampshire-grown produce, according to a flyer at the Manchester Health Department website. The market is open to the public and takes cash and Farmers Market Nutrition Program benefits, the flyer said.
The Manchester Health Department website also features the recently posted 2025-2026 Manchester Food Resource Guide, with a listing of food assistance, including for kids and seniors, food pantries, community gardens, farm share and more. See manchesternh.gov/departments/health.
Rebel with a Clause, a documentary featuring grammarian Ellen Jovin with her Grammar Table set up in cities across America, will screen on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 10 a.m. at Red River Theatres in downtown Concord, one of the cities where we see her dispensing grammar advice in the trailer. Tickets cost $15. Find the trailer and more about Jovin at rebelwithaclause.com.
The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, a theatrical presentation celebrating the release of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl album will hit area theaters on Friday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 5, and feature the world premiere of the music video “The Fate of Ophelia” along with behind-the-scenes footage and other videos, according to a screening description at the Milford Drive-In, where tickets to the Friday and Saturday night screenings at 7:30 p.m. cost $12 per person and are on sale now (see milforddrivein.com). You can also catch it at Apple Cinemas in Merrimack and Hooksett, Cinemark Rockingham Park in Salem and O’Neil Cinemas Brickyard Square in Epping, according to releasepartyofashowgirl.com.
The Craftworkers’ Guild Harvest Shop, located in the Oliver Kendall House at 3A Meetinghouse Road in Bedford, behind the Bedford Public Library, is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Monday, Oct. 13 (the shop will also be open that day). See thecraftworkersguild.com.
