I don’t get it. What’s the deal with Fall?
It’s cold (said the woman from Buffalo, which outsiders seem to think is three miles below the North Pole, but actually has glorious summers).
It’s still dark MUCH later in the morning. WHERE IS THE SUUUUUUUN?!!!
It gets dark early in the evening. WHERE IS THE SUUUUUUUN?!!!
And frost! You wake up one morning and there’s frost on your flowers.
“Frost on your flowers”?
Actually, I think I may have just stumbled upon a delightful metaphor for being cold. I’m not exactly sure which body part it would refer to, but I imagine the conversation going something like this:
“It’s October, why are you wearing that parka?”
I don’t want to get ice on my begonias.
Or this scenario, which actually happened last night:
Wilder woke up at 2am with a business emergency. We spontaneously “invited” a fourth colleague to our meeting because the prior evening Wilder, Allie and I VERY narrowly escaped a disastrous encounter with a skunk.
Even at 2am, I will groggily rise and grab jeans and a sweatshirt before heading outside. Mr., however, was drafted hastily into security detail and was not accustomed to the proper business attire for the middle of the night. Dressed in boxers and a tee shirt, he grabbed his terry robe for upper body warmth but neglected to consider that in the cold night air he might get…
ice on his begonias.
Yeah…that’s absolutely going in the lexicon.
Nevertheless… “It’s Fall, y’all!”
Pass.
I’m a hater.
Closing the pool. Sad.
Putting away my shorts for seven months. Sad.
No leaves or flowers. Horrible.
Go ahead, enjoy your pumpkin spice lattes while I suffer. It’s Fall. I’m a victim.
…
Okay, I’m done griping. HENCE… I will reluctantly join my pumpkin-spice-infused blogging pals as we discuss “Simple Fall Pleasures I Live For.”
I’ll concede that the leaves are gorgeous. Especially in the early morning or late afternoon golden hours, when they flicker and glisten in their spectacular hues. I can live for that.
And, I like how they crunch underfoot when they amass. A couple of days ago, we were making our breakfast walk around the yard and giggling about how our crunchy steps kept interrupting the morning quiet. What a great sound.
Oh. and how about apples! Empire, Cortland, Jonamacs. Fresh-off-the-tree, tart, crunchy, snap-when-you-bite-’em apples. Double the points if I pick them myself.
Or apple cider, served hot or cold since each has its charm. I’m attempting to wean myself off half-and-half, so hot cider makes a nice substitute for coffee. And let’s not forget cider donuts. I don’t remember cider donuts being a thing before the last two years. But I have sworn allegiance to whoever brought them to my attention. (And they are a great alternative to half-and-half, haha.)
Fires. The good kind.
We’re good for a nightly fire beginning in the fall. Once the temps start to dip, it’s lights off, fire on. I guess you have to endure cold weather if you want to enjoy a nice, cozy fire. I used to love the snap, crackle and smell of our authentic wood burner. But the ease of pushing a button, NOT having to chop wood…OR look out your front window and see this…
has its merits.
The farmer’s market, which is filled with colorful local produce at its flavor peak. Fall is the only time of year when a tomato tastes like a tomato–sweet and savory–instead of the wimpy reddish, grainy placeholders the supermarkets offer most of the year.
The way Mr. LOVES Halloween and putting up “the guys.” His collection continues to grow. Last year he acquired this lovely lady, but she stayed in the box because our addition was going to start “any day now.” Ironically, we were told the same thing last week…nevertheless, she has left her cardboard coffin to entertain the living.
Visiting our favorite roadside pumpkin stand on the day we decide “It’s Time” and bringing home a trunkload of pumpkins and gourds. Our favorite stand is on someone’s front lawn on Wolcottsville Road in, well, Wolcottsville (the perfect name for a place to find a country stand).
Fall food, hearty and pretty delicious. Chili, soups, crusty bread. Yep, I can live for, with, and because of that.
Naps. One glorious way to spend a Fall afternoon… while someone in the same room enjoys watching Halloween 12.
And frankly, that’s about it for me…and I think I came up with a fairly adequate list, all things considered.
I never once mentioned that I smell leaf decay everywhere. Or that the dogs’ paws are going to start getting dirty again.
Or ranted that ZERO skunks came at me on any single day or middle of the night when Summer was in charge! Not a single sighting on the Blink cameras. Nope, just a Fall skunk…apparently lying in wait all summer as I grew comfortable looking up at the stars each night while Wilder did her business. And then FALL rolls around and guess who stealthily emerges from the pachysandra, savoring the moment when my eyes were cast upwards at the clear, crisp, 10pm star-saturated sky. “Mwahahahahaha,” the broad striped demon said to himself. “I’ve got her now.”
Were it not for the moon and the good fortune of a hastily grabbed flashlight, I would be writing this from the comfort of the garage.
See you next year, Summer, my dearest.
____
A brief poll in a family outing yesterday revealed that I am the SOLE family member who is no fan of Fall. So, perhaps this would be a good time to consult Actual Autumn Appreciators, aka, the other women of Where Bloggers Live:
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at OnceUponaTimeandHappilyEverAfterAgain
(Me) and
Sally at Within a World of My Own
Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes?
The second Friday of each month is when this group of bloggers link up to share their workspaces,
homes, towns… or whatever our fearless leader, the fabulous Bettye, proposes.
Make sure you visit everyone to see where the magic happens!
Cider donuts…I need to try this delicacy asap. I have enjoyed a pumpkin donut this fall but have never had a cider one. Will look into remedying that immediately.
It gave me pause to read that you are packing your shorts away for 7 months. That seemed like such a very long time. I am still wearing them now and think I will safely be back in them by the end of March. But that seems like a long time, too.
Because we don’t have trees, we don’t have leaves and don’t have crunch. But we also don’t have to rake. Well, that’s not completely accurate. I am moving each rock in our rock gardens, one at a time, to rid the spaces of all of the unsightly debris (but not leaves) from our backyard neighbor’s mesquite trees. They dump something every single season. Right now I am plucking out the giant pods dropped this fall along with the delicate fronds the trees dropped in the early summer. Grrr.
I love hot spiced cider and am sure I would like the cold version as well. Need to search out some of that, too.
How much fun to be able to select your gourds and pumpkins from such a quaint country stand. There are so many near-perfectly round pumpkins to choose from. I had to settle for 2 lumpy, asymmetrical specimens from Walmart.
Hope you will enjoy naps, and the holidays, and bonfires this fall with all of your favorite folks.
Oh, Em! You disappoint me. I thought you’d wax on and on about the glories of fall (though I guess you kinda did). I mean Fall has to come before Christmas, and we all know how you love to decorate for Christmas! But, I guess I get it if I had a pool, I might be a tad upset. And, how did I miss you were putting on an addition? I am still laughing, though, at the thought of the Mr and the ice on his begonias!! Ah, how I love when you post!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
You certainly painted a charming picture of fall at home for HATING it like you do!
🙂
And I was thinking of like…if someone pisses you off or does you wrong (which I guess would piss you off), you could say “well, that really Frosts My Flowers!”
But “ice on his begonias” works, too…
And cider donuts, right?? They just APPEARED one year. I first saw them on a Columbus Day weekend trip to Vermont in, oh gosh, trying to remember the year. I was still living on LI, still working, (I know that cuz I’d won the weekend getaway in a raffle at work)…oh crap, come on brain…somewhere between 2019-2023, cuz I took all my laundry with me ha ah cuz there was in-unit laundry and I didn’t have a washing machine in that apartment, so two birds one stone, oh LORD I am the queen of the tangent…ANYWAY…all the farm stands had them and I was like huh? what? must eat!
Hey, it cut me off! Anyway, I was about to say I actually found them a little underwhelming. I’m not generally a cakey donut fan – I’m a yeast donut (or now, living in asia, a mochi/rice donut) girl.
Okay, enough. The good news is, fall will be over before you know it, and then you get to enjoy winter!!!
xoxo Bettye
I’m so glad you missed the skunk Episode although I know you would have made it a hilarious adventure on the blog.
And this would be the perfect time if you wanted to come visit…. The days are a little longer since we are more south and let’s just say there’s no frost on anything.
And if you bring the dogs, then we could have our own pack.
Xoxo
Jodie
I think you and I could make a good team as dual gods who split the year between them: I’d reign over the fall and winter seasons and you’d reign over the spring and fall! I’m impressed that despite being a hater, you did come up with things that you do like about the autumn season. I mean, if nothing else, you can at least appreciate the fact that fall isn’t winter, right?