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Fall has always been my favorite season, despite the fact that it has meant going back to school for me and then for mine. I perk up in the fall, I get some energy for a change. Maybe this is a function of the temperatures finally dipping out of the nineties (ahem), maybe it’s something to do with the pituitary gland and the days being shorter. I think it has more to do with a sense of thwarting death and preparing for hardship.
My first indicator that summer is ending comes from the insects. The crickets no longer sing just at night, they’re at it all day too. The stink bugs start invading the house as soon as the first cornfield gets chopped. When the last one comes down, the field mice show up in the basement, no matter how mild the weather. Then the geese start flocking, I’m feeding my horses in darkness at one end of the day or the other, and the deer have gone from that lovely, rich red to the tawny dun of winter coats.
The bugs are getting ready to die, the deer are trying to procreate (automobiles in the path of true love notwithstanding) before they get ready to starve. Hard times are coming. On a biological level, I think this is motivating. In fall, I’m more likely to get around to reading the Susan Mallery and Loretta Chase I’ve been hoarding in my To Be Read pile. I take those walks that are good for my rumination. I throw stuff out that has been lurking in my closets for months if not years. In short, I get off my duff. I organize my nest because in the coming months, I’ll be seeing a lot of the place.
This is the only change of season that motivates me to act, though I enjoy all the seasons. But my experience of fall may not be yours. What about the coming cooler season appeals to you, and what makes you dread it? Do you enjoy stories set in autumn, or can you not recall the last one you came across? And if fall is your least favorite season, why is that? If nothing else, the shorter cooler days mean I spend more time reading in the evening, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Oh my, how I love fall. The colors, (here in the north east) the pumpkins, the cornmazes–what you’ve never!!! so cool! one of my favorite lines from fall from a movie–try to guess it, its nora ephron–”I’d give you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils” ie heading back to school.
The largest corn maze in Maryland is run by a friend of mine. Probably the best idea in terms of good, clean fun since sliced bread and tube socks. I like to go there and just sit on a straw bale and watch families out in the fresh air having simple fun in each others’ company. For some reason, those weekends at the beach just don’t have the same gleeful feel, nor do the skiing outings. Love it. Bring on the pumpkins!
I adore the fall, but not because it gets me motivates me to clean. No season or person ever accomplished that. Even during the nesting phase of all three of my pregnancies I never had the urge. Me? I filled up the pantry and called it good. My husband and children clean–you don’t think I married my DH just for his good looks, do you?
Fall makes me want to cook. I wait for the first chilly day with baited breath, all the while planning my first pot of soup. I love soups, stews, pot roasts, any kind of warming, comfort food. In the fall, I love the fact that I can use the oven without having to turn the air conditioner down. I love making the slow cooking kind of food that makes the house smell heavenly for hours.
Last week, out of the blue my son said he couldn’t wait until I made my lamb barley soup–he can feel it coming. Lamb barley is on my to make as soon as possible list — but then, I have a long list. I make a 20 quart pot of soup, freeze it in gallon size bags on cookie sheets (so they’re stackable), and on those winter days I don’t want to cook, I pull one or two out, microwave it, make a salad and a loaf of bread in the bread machine and call it dinner.
I can’t wait until the temperature drops enough to make pizza (a 500 degree oven in high summer is so not a good thing). I’m contemplating spending the time and energy to make a truly great Cassoulet. I’m paging through my cookbooks and writing grocery lists, making sure my pantry is stocked. Oh yeah, I’ll be wearing my apron a lot in the coming months, cooking up a storm, filling my freezer for those lazy winter days.
We’re all going over the Robin’s house for a plotting session (deduct that mileage!) just as soon as we lose an anticipatory five pounds, right?
I’m packing!!
While I enjoy the colorful leaves, the red berries on the dogwoods, the cool nights and Halloween, every year I mourn the passing of summer.
I love summer so much.
There is sailing and golf and camping out and flowers in my border and eating out under the wisteria in the summer. There are lazy evenings watching the fireflies and drinking wine on the deck. There are long days and the warmth makes my old bones feel young again.
And then there is that dreaded day in the middle of October, when the last baseball game is played. That’s when I begin counting the days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training in February. And I hunker down and wait, not so patiently, for April and Opening Day.
Maybe appreciating weather and seasons is all about having something to look forward to–the first crocus, the first snow flurry, the first frost, the first lightening bug. It’s old and it’s new and it keeps us looking ahead. May your winter be short and mild.
I’m just the opposite, Hope. I can’t wait until September and the opening weekend of pro football.
But I’ve always been a sucker for fall. I love the colors and the drop in temperature, the first time we light the woodstove and the skeins of geese arriving overhead. And I’m right there with Robin. I can’t wait for all the winter comfort food.
Come on fall!
I grew up in State College, PA, and didn’t realize the term “Football Weather” for a gorgeous fall weekend wasn’t common parlance. Everybody seems to know what tailgating is, though.
Being from PA as well, I fully understand the term Footbal Friday, too. PS i went to Pitt. GO panthers LOL. But state college is a great town.
And I’m just the opposite…I mourn the wonderful coolth of winter.
Fall and winter are my most favorite seasons: I’m already decorating for Halloween – spray painting an artificial Christmas tree black for a Halloween tree, in fact! I just can’t seem to get enough of the fall colors and clothing! Love, love, love my boots, sweater dresses, dark denim Miss Me’s and cute jackets.
I saw Halloween candy in the store today, and that is one anticipated holiday I will not gripe about. One can never have too much ready access to chocolate.
Ain’t it the truth! Chocolate is definitely one of the four food groups;)
I’ve always loved winter but now that I live in hot frickin Louisiana I look forward to any day below 85 since we almost never get Spring. And you would know that the decade I left D.C. it would start snowing in the winter. Fall colors, too. Our cypresses turn all shades of autumn. Enjoy your Fall.
But you were smart enough to have lots of Writin’ Buddies who will trade you a winter getaway for some local company during Mardis Gras, right? Pretty good thinking. I still say we should all start making submissions to Kevan Lyon in person, or maybe start our own organization based in Hawaii, or Cancun.
Here in Tennessee we, or at least I, adore days that are below 80 degrees. My favorite seasons are spring and fall, both because of the temperate weather and because they represent the end of the sweltering summer and the end of the hated winter. I’m extremely cold natured, so I loathe winter, even though ours is not considered very cold. Anything below 70 degrees requires layers for me. *shivers* As you can tell, I’m only happy between 70 and 80 degrees. Not hard to please at all.
I also love to cook in the cooler months. The soups, stews and chilies are my favorites. Pair them with homemade breads and my family is happy for days.
Fall is hard to dislike, colors abound, the crackle of fallen oak leaves beneath your feet, and wood smoke a harbinger of the snow to follow, a final fling in the outdoors before trapped indoors.
Of course, there’s all the leaf raking……..