Hi, friends:

I don’t know about you, but I love seeing all the photos of kids going back to school — or starting it for the first time. When my husband and I recently brought our son to meet his kindergarten teacher and she mentioned a simple and fun homework assignment that she was having the kids do, he said, “Homework … I think I heard about that once.” 

We’re barely out of August, but already the air feels crisper, and I’ve seen some red leaves on the trees around town. It’s always bittersweet when summer ends, but autumn is my favorite season, and the cooler weather offers a great excuse to cozy up with a good book. (See some recommendations for both fiction and nonfiction titles on page 6.)

Of course, fall is also the season of apple-picking – we do it every year at a variety of orchards in the area, including Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton, where sculptor Piper Foreso recently installed her fluorescent-hued acrylic scene, Big Beautiful Wall. You can find her “Art Maker” interview on page 5.

The last time I was at the orchard, I picked a pint’s worth of blackberries and blueberries. I enjoy cooking, though I’m not much of a baker, and to this day I don’t think I’ve ever made a pie. This is problematic because I do love to eat pie — fortunately, I can do that at Florence Pie Bar. (I still want to learn how to make one.)

I remembered when it first opened — the idea of a Pie Bar seemed curious enough, but it really piqued my interest when I learned that the big guy behind the counter was Northampton City Council President, Bill Dwight.

The Pie Bar and Dwight each have been covered plenty in the local press, but I wanted to know more about Dwight’s day-to-day serving up pie, so I asked writer Veronica Suchodolski to spend a few hours shadowing Dwight for a story I thought had all the makings of a New Yorker “Talk of the Town,” only set in Florence instead of New York City. As usual, Veronica nailed the assignment, and you can read her piece, “Pie for the People,” starting on page 12. Photographer Caroline O’Connor took the striking cover photo as well as the inviting shots inside.

If you’re trying to watch your calorie intake, you’ll appreciate chef/teacher Steven Kantrowitz’s latest “grain, green, veggie, bean” recipe on page 22. It’s delicious, filling and waist-friendly.

Columnist Naomi Shulman is also back with this week’s “Friday Takeaway,” on page 19, “Buying Time.” I won’t give away what she wrote about here. But after you read her essay, you might ask yourself, as I did: What are the “buying time” services you’re willing to pay for? Let me know at bhauser@gazettenet.com.

Happy September.

Brooke Hauser