It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Fall is my personal, favorite time of the year. From now on until the day after New Years, I am in season.

Living in Houston has changed my expectation of what fall looks like, but I am still, in my height of glory when this time of year rolls in. When I lived in Ohio, this was the time when I would really shine. Fall has always been my favorite time, especially in the month of October. The leaves would change color and crunch beneath my feet, the air was crisp and cool, and the smells...How can one describe the smells of apples, cinnamon and pumpkins all bundled together in a whirl of autumn colors. Fall in the north is sight to behold. Even true Southerners, who adore their homeland, have to hand it to the northern fall foliage. There is nothing like it! It's living artwork, full of sensory riches. Soft, thick sweaters that absorb the curling smells of smoke from a camp fire. Hay rides through the woods, with the deep,brilliant colors of the leaves and the last sights of wildlife before the threat of snow.

I told you, I really like fall.

I have had to change a few things, since moving to the deep south. I do not get to see my beloved trees change colors, so we planted a blooming Argentinian silk floss tree that blooms great, beautiful pink blossoms in the fall. Sweaters are only worn in the extreme cold of January, when the weather dips down to a chilly 50 degrees (burr). So instead, I wear short sleeve shirts in rich fall colors. I have to buy apples at the store, rather than pick them in an orchard, the pumpkin display is right next to them rather than the trip to the pumpkin patch, and the smell of fall leaves actually can be purchased in a bottle and put into a diffuser, so that my imagination can carry me home, even if for only a moment.

Halloween, I must confess in some ways is better down here. There weather is much more stable, so we can keep our elaborate decorations out and it rarely rains on the precious little trick-or-treaters. Being a fan favorite, Halloween is the time when all my gorey,gruesome decor is pulled from many containers to adorn my yard and house with skulls, jackolanters,goblins and gallons of fake blood. Bodies are strewn from one end of the yard to the other, and I play haunted themes for a month. Every year, Michael allows me a single purchase to add to my collection. Last year it was a light up skeleton called Napoleon Blown-apart. His heart glowed red and beat in a lovely rhythm.

I am really looking forward to fall this year. It will be my last in my house, so in some ways it will be bitter sweet. My kitchen will be renovated and I will be cooking up fall favorites like apple pie, pumpkin bundt cakes, chili and fresh baked bread on football Sundays, hot cocoa later in the season garnished with cinnamon and whipped cream. Michael and I will be taking more walks, now that the heavy, oppressive heat is starting to fade and the air will cool down as the love bugs appear to let us Southerners know that the humidity is once again fading into the years end.

I love fall no matter where I live. I feel very lucky to be able to keep my adoration for all that is autumnal, anywhere I happen to be.