Monday
Oct052009
On Fall
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 2:01AM | Mr Lady
Orange is my favorite color, and that's why I love fall.
I love fall because the air is thick with the smell of burning wood. In the fireplace way, not the Californageddon way. I love fall because I don't have to shave my legs, ever, and I get to break out my fuzzy socks. I kind of have a thing for socks. Bet you didn't know that.
I love fall because it's laced with traditions. We go back to school; lunch boxes are lined up on the counter every day, story time and dinner time and shower time and bed time all happen on schedule. We let go of the hap-hazard, fly by the seat of our pants summer days and we pack up the pastels and the florescents in exchange for the earth tones. My little green eyed babies, my one blue eyed boy with olive skin, they look so beautiful in shades of green and brown snuggled around their necks that it hurts to look at them sometimes. My husband rushes home on his early nights to fill our house with the grunts and the woots! that football season brings. Beers are cracked, crotches are scratched, and the men take over for a while.
The first truly cold day of the year is coming, and that means the first pot of chili and the first batch of cornbread are imminent. Fall means that you can watch a season crawl across the planet, inching towards you, leaving dustings of snow on the highest mountaintops that it passes in its slow decent to earth.
I love fall because, rather than shoving and screaming at each other for the good tv spot, or the stool in the washroom, my children stumble down the stairs in the morning, huddle together under a blanket, and stare silently into the flames from the fireplace warming their little toes and noses awake. We spend more time on the floor in the fall, because we can't resist the fire. We eat dessert on the floor, lay on our tummies and play on the floor, hold each other and read stories in front of the fire.
I need the fall to prepare for the winter. The cold will come, the snow will fall, and I'll hide inside until it stops and life resumes. Fall is my dose of life before the world hibernates, and I with it. And the pumpkin spice latte is back, which is really as close to godliness as you can get.
I'm curious....what's your favorite season? And why?
I love fall because the air is thick with the smell of burning wood. In the fireplace way, not the Californageddon way. I love fall because I don't have to shave my legs, ever, and I get to break out my fuzzy socks. I kind of have a thing for socks. Bet you didn't know that.
I love fall because it's laced with traditions. We go back to school; lunch boxes are lined up on the counter every day, story time and dinner time and shower time and bed time all happen on schedule. We let go of the hap-hazard, fly by the seat of our pants summer days and we pack up the pastels and the florescents in exchange for the earth tones. My little green eyed babies, my one blue eyed boy with olive skin, they look so beautiful in shades of green and brown snuggled around their necks that it hurts to look at them sometimes. My husband rushes home on his early nights to fill our house with the grunts and the woots! that football season brings. Beers are cracked, crotches are scratched, and the men take over for a while.
The first truly cold day of the year is coming, and that means the first pot of chili and the first batch of cornbread are imminent. Fall means that you can watch a season crawl across the planet, inching towards you, leaving dustings of snow on the highest mountaintops that it passes in its slow decent to earth.
I love fall because, rather than shoving and screaming at each other for the good tv spot, or the stool in the washroom, my children stumble down the stairs in the morning, huddle together under a blanket, and stare silently into the flames from the fireplace warming their little toes and noses awake. We spend more time on the floor in the fall, because we can't resist the fire. We eat dessert on the floor, lay on our tummies and play on the floor, hold each other and read stories in front of the fire.
I need the fall to prepare for the winter. The cold will come, the snow will fall, and I'll hide inside until it stops and life resumes. Fall is my dose of life before the world hibernates, and I with it. And the pumpkin spice latte is back, which is really as close to godliness as you can get.
I'm curious....what's your favorite season? And why?
Reader Comments (53)
Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love the colors of the trees as they change. I love the leaves floating softly to the ground and the cold nip in the air in the mornings. Happy Fall to you!
~Tracy
Fall is definitely my favourite season but you describe the reasons why way better than I ever could.
We don't have a fireplace but I'm all weird and love the smell the first time we turn on the furnace.
My daughter and I found the most perfect red maple leaf the other day and that made me ridiculously happy.
I love coming home from work and having a reason to get into my warm pyjamas.
I love all the baking we start (but not the holiday weight).
I love Fall.
Spring is nice with everything coming back to life, but I definitely like fall the best.
I love the smells and the tastes and the cold crisp air first thing in the morning. The trees are beautiful, of course, and I love the foggy mornings when the world is hidden away and quiet. To me, the year begins in the fall. I always loved back to school time as a kid (yup, big geek) and now that I have kids, I love to see them love it too!
Fall is definitely my favorite!
Fall is - and has always been - my most favorite season. And I've been so sad for the past two years because I haven't gotten to experience it. We live on a subtropical island right now (I know, boohoo, right?) and it's still in the 80's here. But I miss having seasons, and although I'm not a fan of cold winters, I love chilly autumns.
Now if fall were really like that here I am sure I would love it too. Me? I love the early mornings of both spring and autumn, when I can enjoy an early morning walk around the river, enjoying the peace and quiet, watching the world wake up. Summers here are insane with a prediction for extreme heat 45+ degrees (about 115 F) to be the norm. I am not really looking forward to it at all.
Whiskey in My Sippy Cup : Surviving Parenting. Kinda. » On Fall: Orange is my favorite color, and that's wh.. http://bit.ly/14MnQn
Fall is also my favorite. October is my favorite month because of the weather change and Halloween, which is my favorite holiday. I was born in November so thats a pretty good month as well and this year, I am having my tubal reversal in November so nothing but good things seem to happen to me and my family in the fall.
Summer. I look like an odd man out here, but summer will always steal my heart first over all the other seasons. I love laying in the warm grass.. going to the beach and planting my toes.. everything is alive and green..
Love your story though.. made me wish we had a fireplace
I'm just glad to know that I'm not the only person who waits ALL FRIGGIN YEAR!!!! to get a pumpkin spice latte- I could seriously just hibernate for the rest of the year. That of course is not the ONLY reason I love this time of year. I love the smell of the leaves when they get crispy and start to fall. I love the sounds as they crunch underfoot. I LOOOOOVE Halloween with a passion that's bordering on obsession. Thanksgiving too!! (oooooh the pumpkin cheesecake that will be had!! :P and turkey!!) I love the bite in the air, even if it's still warm from the sun, that crispness in the air that turns your cheeks pink, and nibbles the end of your nose, warning that winter is coming, just tickles my insides. /sigh I also looooove the smell of fire... in a woodburning stove or fireplace. I WISH WISH WISH I had one!!! /sigh... oh I love fall.. I wish it could be autumn all the time!!! :P
I'm with you on fall. It has always been the "new year" to me. Back to school, change of wardrobe from shorts and bathing suits to cozy sweaters and boots. We were married 20 years ago this month and our photos were taken under the golden canopy of a birch tree and my bridesmaids wore jewel-toned dresses. I just tried my first sip of pumpkin spice beer - a new reason to love fall.
I used to be a summer girl but October is my favorite month. Fall has slowly taken over as my new fav. I love the colorful scarves, the leaves changing, pumpkins and most of all my baby is a fall child. What's not to love about that?
Whiskey in My Sippy Cup : Surviving Parenting. Kinda. » On Fall http://bit.ly/XOXJg
You've got me on fall too, although I call it autumn. In Australia autumn is full of warm days and cool nights, with dry crunchy leaves changing the colour of everything. The trees almost glow with their new colour scheme. It's always been my favourite season, even though half the bush behind our house was evergreen.
In england where I live now though, autumn means wet mushy leaves, and camouflaged dog poo, so I love spring over here. When despite the bitter winter, you suddenly spy seas of delicate pastel crocuses just growing out of the lawn under spreading oaks.
Autumn and Winter are neck-in-neck for the title of favorite, but for many of the same reasons. The bright clear skies, no longer hung with the oppressive haze of humidity; the scent of woodsmoke all across the countryside; the brilliantly colored trees, which make brilliantly colored mountains; the crinkle-crunch of walking through the fallen leaves; the added joy and warmth I get from that first cup of steaming hot coffee on a cold morning (pumpkin-spice preferred, or course), and the similar, relaxing warmth of steaming mulled wine in the evening; and the warm, snuggly, blissfully fuzzy sweaters and SOCKS. Oh how I love the fuzzy socks. I am learning to knit specifically so I can make more fuzzy socks.
Ah, Californageddon. My favorite season. The way the Sierras take on the reddish glow of scorched countryside, the gentle fall of ash on our front lawns - it's down right awe inspiring, I tell ya. The exacerbated allergies and the smoker's hack are just tiny little bonuses.
Another vote here for the fall. The changing of colors, the dry crispness to the air as it cools down from the heat of summer (not that summer was that hot around here this year), having to wear sweats in the mornings, looking for a light jacket because you don't know how chilly it may get in the evenings when you go out, the smell of burning leaves and fireplaces, the shortening of the days, the anticipation of the arrival of the holiday season (and I don't mean all those Christmas displays going up in October), snuggling up to the ones you love on a nippy Saturday morning when no one has to get up, having the kids join you in bed and snuggling up with you and your beloved on a nippy Saturday morning, a nice Sunday morning pancake breakfast while it is cold, rainy, and foggy outside, etc. Need I continue?
My favorite season used to be summer, but my ideas about seasons have definitely changed with moving. I've lived on both coasts, and the gulf, and you don't get the same seasons as here in Colorado. Fully experiencing every season, I've discovered things I love about every single one. I think I've also fallen in love with the earth tones of Autumn, when I used to be cheered best by the bright colors of Spring and Summer. Your post pretty much sums up all of the things I've come to love about Autumn.
I'm all about spring. I was born in the spring, and so are the little baby animals. And there are flowers and sunshine and it's all very hopeful and fresh.
Although I do love a chance to wear a nice sweater, and you can't beat fall for that.
I live in sunny Southern CA so I don't even get to say I experience real seasons, but I love the subtle shift between summer to fall our mile winter to spring and then back to summer. I love when it turns to fall because it feels time for that change, just the same I love when it turns to summer because the smell of sunscreen in the air and days at the beach are amazing.
I love fall. I love the crispness, the smell of the earth, and the beautiful leaves. I love tucking into sweats when I get home and sleeping without the heat yet. It's the beauty, the sheer gift of the earth that is breathtaking. Thanks for posting this, it's amazing!
Spring. Here in Central Florida though we only get 2 seasons, Spring and Summer. Spring has cooler days to go play golf in January and you can still comfortably wear shorts. If you want to wear jeans though, you won't get too hot, even in February. Spring is best because the humidity is lower and that's always nice. Plus the tourists are mostly all gone so we get to play in the touristy areas without the stinky sweat.
Yup, definitely Spring(late mid-October through mid-April).
For those in the Northern parts though, I still prefer Spring because baseball and hockey are in season.
Fall is by far my MOST favorite season.
However, I live in virtual summer as the weather here in India rarely changes ... except to turn from hot ... to hot and humid ... to frickin hot and bloody humid .... to "oh my g-d who let hell into here and why do i still have clothes on it's so frickin insanely hot I'm about to die ... to monsoon season - where it's still hot... and humid.
it smelled like fall yesterday... it was cold and the fireplaces were on. it's so strange for us because it's been SOOO HOT, and then all of a sudden it was cold. i joked to my sister that it smelled like fall, or that san diego was on fire again.
oh man... CHILLLLIIIIIIIII!!! i made my nephew mexican hot chocolate over the weekend. mostly so he would have something to squirt whipped cream onto. i thought it was the adult thing to do.
i love fall. fall fall fall. we don't really get winter, it just stays fall, and then goes into summer again.
I love fall. For mostly the same reasons you do. I read this thing once about watching the world die, slowly going back to ground and knowing that it will arise triumphantly again. That's why I love fall. I love watching the world die and knowing it's going to come back.
Fall was always my favorite season, too. I love the crisp air and the smell of the fallen leaves. I used to love walking around the block when it got dark early and you could smell the wood smoke and see people cooking and going about their daily lives in their brightly lit homes. It just feels cozy.
So I moved to a tropical country where fall doesn't exist. :P Silly of me, huh?
Consider my Mute Monday post today dedicated to you.
Summer. I've lived my entire life--except a couple of weeks in the summer--in Virginia and West Virginia. I grew up absorbing the hatred my dad has for cold weather, and I loved the time we spent in Miami. I almost moved to the Gulf coast 15 years ago but chickened out.
Now I'm remarried, to a man who hates cold weather as much as I do. We planned to retire to south Florida in a few years, but he lost his job last November (the day after the presidential election; how's that for irony?) and we had to rethink things. That was 3/4 of our income!
At age 63 he hasn't been able to find a job in management, and he won't, I'm sure. But the great thing is, we really hunkered down and saved money, kept the house 10 degrees colder than normal, I didn't drink any Pepsi (and that's a biggie for me), didn't go out to eat, didn't do much but try different ways to survive. In the first few months of this year we paid off several thousand dollars worth of debt, then he decided to let of his pride, his baby, his 1957 Porsche. When it sold we paid off all our debt but the mortgage and put the rest away for our retirement home.
And you know what, two weeks ago we bought a fixer-upper on Big Pine Key, which is 30 miles from Key West. When our place up here sells, we'll own that Keys house free and clear. It's going to take a lot of work to get it to where we want it, but--and this is the point, at long last--we'll live where there are one and a half seasons, at best: warm, and hot and muggy. We love it.
Not to mention that nasty demon depression that hits me harder each winter. I'm hoping that the warmer winter days in Florida will allow me to soak up more vitamin D and beat the crap out of the winter blues.
Fall, 100%. I get so excited about the holidays and wearing sweaters. I seriously spaz out with happy.
My favourite season is, such as, the Eye-raq and South Africa, and because lots of seasons have no maps, such as, and that, such as the Asian countries.
The same reasons as yours plus some more. I don't know what it is about fall but it is a balm to my soul. We passed by a pumpkin patch just yesterday and I told Drew there is just something about the bright orange against a gray sky that is just joyous!
Amazing post. I was just talking about this with a friend of mine this morning. She hates Fall. I love but couldn't quite tell her why. Thank you! (oh, and I linked this in my blog, hope you don't mind).
Love from London.
Virginia
Hmm...lets see. Spring is nice here because it's really sunny. But then I kind of like Fall too because it's so sunny all the time. But you know? I actually really dig Winter because of all the sun. No. I've decided. I like Summer best. You know, because its sunny.
omigosh, i have a thing for socks too! (i like orange too, used to wear a lot in college. even orange lipstick from clinique, ha.) but now i like dark colors.
spring and summer is mine. bc it means not having to lug around jackets or socks or find missing gloves. bc it means getting outside without having to take all this stuff.
bc it means walking in flip flops.
although i have to say i love the cool crisp air that fall brings. i do have an aversion to when i see the mall putting on kids fall clothes and stuff is brown, orange and yellow together like a pumpkin or tree! i like me spring and light, bright colors.
Yep, L.A. is all about those Santa Ana's bringing you their wretched wild fire scents come this time of year. We had the most unpleasant October Disneyland trip EVER in 2007 when we arrived in Anaheim the FIRST dang day of major wildfire day 2007. I was running around like I always do, trying to do EVERYTHING at once, and actually vomited into my hand (I know tmi) while riding the monorail back to Downtown Disney. I was alone in my monorail car, thank God, but still. Never vomited at Disneyland before. Oy, so much for firsts . . . at least I was all thoughtful like that,not wanting to leave my breakfast contents on the carpeted floor of the ride!
I used to think I loved Spring, being happy and shit and all, but now I realized that it's the time RIGHT BEFORE WINTER BREAKS, before Spring is sprung, that turns the key in my lock. It's the promise of Spring, not the weather so much, that gets my happy hat on, the weather is still cold, but the sun is starting to do it's little morphing across the sky in a different direction.
Fall makes me sad. that probably makes me a candidate for SAD disease, eh? The only part of Fall I adore is being able to cover up the blub with more clothes. We can't use our fireplace, or I might just be so in love with Fall, I'd move to Alaska!
I like the forest in springtime. when the baby leaves on the trees are that special shade of bright green, and the trunks are dark and wet from the spring rain, those two colors with a taste of dogwood blossoms scattered about ,is just about the most perfect silence ever
Fall and then, Spring. Fall because the change signifies that winter is right around the corner and skiing. I love the changing of the leaves and knowing that we will be huddled at home more. We read more, and worry less about chores & stuff. We enjoy cuddling and keeping warm. Life becomes slower in the Fall and Winter. Fall is all about comfort. Comfortable clothes, fires, ragg socks and good food.
Spring for me is all about Tulips and flowers popping up all over the place letting us know that another season is here.
I love fall too. Today was our first cold day ... 71F/21.6C. Don't laugh ... I had to put long pants on! : )
Fall is my favorite season, for all the hands-down gorgeous reasons you list here. The crisp air and the schedules after crazy summers and the promise of snow (winter is a close second for me in the favorite department). The only thing I dislike about fall this year is the crunch of holiday budgeting. I feel disorganized and unprepared!
That was pretty poetic. I can't come close to that, but I'll tell you why I love spring (or what I can remember from it before I moved to LA, where seasons are determined by how they decorate the mall). Spring is when fishing season started. It also happened to be the time when things began to thaw. There is a very distinct smell to thawing vegetation. And I will forever associate it with carefree days with my pole, a tackle box and a handful of Slim Jims.
Unfortunately, I can only choose between two seasons because I've never experienced fall or winter yet. Bummer, huh? So I'd go for summer. Everyone's lively, the freezer is stuffed with ice cream, and the sun is crazy. I'd go for winter, if only I have experienced it though. :(
Whiskey in My Sippy Cup : Surviving Parenting. Kinda. » On Fall http://bit.ly/14MnQn
Hmm. I'm a summer girl, but the way you just described fall makes me like it alot more! It is such a cozy season. And the football - beer cracking, crotch scratching?? Too true! I just wish fall didn't mean winter was just around the corner. Brrr.
Oh geez. I live for orange. That color. Wow. It is a part of me. So I love me some fall. But a Southern Cal fall is a bit different than your fall. But it's there. It's going on now. A slight shift in the light, a dip in the air, the smell from the ocean, the look of the waves, it changes. And fall is here.
I guess I would have to say that my favorite season is a tie between summer and fall. For most of the reasons you mentioned above.....summer is carefree and wild and spontaneous and unscheduled and the light lingers late into the evening and I love LIGHT but the routine of Fall and the blanketed mornings of the kids cuddled together and the house sealed shut for all of us to play together inside.....I love that too.
Now a pumpkin spiced latte?? Hmmm...... I have to say - I am a virgin. Maybe this is the season to try it....I'll let you know. :-)
Autumn definately alwaysfor the colours the smells but I d never have explained it as eloquently as you ...... and last Saturday was spent with friends by a real turf fire with a guinness which has become our early autumn tradition. A few weeks ago I tasted my first ever pumpkin spice latte ..sadly I don t think I ll get to make a tradition of that !!!
I'm loving fall now after reading your post. The way you described how you appreciate everything about that season makes me think that and I believe that fall indeed is a wonderful season. You did a good job writing this post. Thank you for sharing your wonderful posts.:)
You know, I'm sure I WOULD love fall, but here in Houston, we don't GET a fall. It's October now and it was 95 degrees here today.
It'll be about like that until December (I remember being in short sleeve shirts over Christmas last year) or January, we'll have a few weeks of cool weather, then it's back to the effin' 90's or 100's.
Not that I'm bitter, or anything.
I love pumpkin spice lattes as well, and found this recipe (http://tinyurl.com/pumpkinspicelattes) that looks fantastic!
My favorite season is salt. Or maybe cinnamon.
I pretty much love all of them except Winter... Even here in sunny CO the dreariness gets to me. But all of the other three have lovely things to them that I really look forward to.
And orange is, BY FAR, Bryan's favorite color too.
You made me all warm and cozy :) I don't think I have a favorite season anymore. I've been hyper aware of the seasons this year, and truly appreciate each on its own for different reasons. I'm absolutely loving fall, but I also loved Spring and Summer, and I'm sure I will be eager for Winter as well.
I have this crazy love-hate thing with fall. I really do enjoy it, the crisp air and the colors and cozy... but at its fringes is that winter lurker and I hate that frigid bitch.
I seriously need to move.