On Saturday, the third day of our New Hampshire trip, we woke to a heavily overcast and cool day. Hardly unusual in the mountains, and certainly not at all for the month of October, one could safely assume. Most definitely jacket-and-gloves weather. We made certain when we packed for this trip that we would have appropriate gear for Riley as well, complete with raincoat and warmer little coats for when the occasion demanded.

We had sausage patties and French toast for breakfast, with coffee and tea after our oranges and bananas. We always have a more or less full-dress breakfast, since we never eat lunch and there's a fairly long interval between breakfast and dinner. Unlike at home, we have to take turns in the cottage shower, large enough for only one of us at a time. While my husband was in the shower, our hostess dropped by to explain that if the water suddenly stopped, it was because her husband was in the process of working on a problem with the plumbing.

We returned to Smarts Brook. Amazingly, we found the foliage far brighter with the heavy grey clouds overhead, than how it all looked the day before, in full sunlight. Somehow, a dull day seems to have an emphasizing effect on colour hues in a forest as long as it's not too dim, we've found.  We also discovered the parking lot to be even more fully crowded than yesterday. We determined to pursue our daily ramble no further than the pine flats. And took our time ambling along, taking photographs, and chatting with others on the trail.

There was a good enough reason not to spend hours trekking in the woods, since we had decided we'd drive to Antique Alley. Our main destination was the two Parker-French shops, and there too it was crowded with curiosity-seekers and antique hounds. The fact that this was a long week-end for Americans in the celebration of Columbus Day, offered an occasion for a good number of people to travel for their own long week-end, to view, as we had been doing, a geologically fascinating part of their own native heritage.

We came across some interesting paintings, netsuke (Japanese ivory carvings), furniture, porcelains, books, and surprisingly what must have been someone's collection of character dolls. Splendidly garbed, with beautifully painted, expressive porcelain faces, and paperweight-eyes. There was one painting, about 1890, of a ship being battered in a hurricane, in its original frame that appealed in particular. We dropped by another few group shops on our drive back; mostly full of pathetic collectible offerings.

On the plus side, despite that, everyone we came across was friendly and good natured. Typical New Hampshire residents.