I can smell it....
....fall's nearly here. About a week away, if you really want to be literal. I have always counted autumn as my favorite season among the four that God gave us. Most people would probably say that spring's their preferred time of year, but I see just as much beauty and wonder (if not more so) during the fall.
I give to you another list....I haven't done this in a couple of weeks.....of the reasons why autumn is so dear to my heart.
-- The fragrance of fall....oh, if you could capture it in a bottle. It is a musty yet clean smell at the same time....the smell of decaying leaves almost seems decadent and romantic. The wind carries the scents of fall to your nose, the much cooler, less-humid wind, that is....and you realize that summer is on its way out.
-- You can step outside in time to see the flocks of geese and other birds flying overhead in perfect formation, calling with their solemn voices to one another. It is a reverie....makes you stand still and just stare in awe, such as you would at the ocean or at a war monument. You wonder where they're going....how many times they'll stop to rest or eat....and whether or not they're all kin to each other. (I wonder these things, anyway.)
-- You suddenly remember that it will soon be time to build fires in the fireplace. I don't have a fireplace which allows for use in my current home, however (it's a coal-burning fireplace from the 1930s)....but we all know people who have the old-fashioned hearths and piles of scented pine and cedar out behind their homes. Gas logs don't count.
-- I itch like never before to get back into the kitchen and cook up a storm. There is just a renewed inspiration for creativity in the culinary world when the temperatures dip and force you to look inside more than out for entertainment and leisure. Cooking never has as much joy attached to it for me than it does in the fall.
-- Fall means cooler weather, and cooler weather means I can pull out my sweaters again. I love wearing long sleeves....I feel so much more "together" in a cardigan and corduroys than I do in a tank top and Soffee shorts.
-- Iced teas and tart lemonades are replaced by hot chai teas and pumpkin-flavored coffees. Enough said.
-- Exercise outdoors suddenly becomes a viable option again. You don't have to go out to walk or jog at o'dark thirty in order to beat the heat. You can participate in any outdoor activity at 3pm and not break a sweat (well, not much of one). I love options.
-- Food, glorious comfort food. I have to admit that I cook in the fall mainly to enjoy the fragrance of the dishes as they cook.....I enjoy smelling them more than I enjoy eating them. It's the best air freshener on the market. Some of my favorite things to create in the fall include apple and pear crisps, hot cider, braised chicken with cabbage, rustic meatloaves, lentil stews, pumpernickel bread, and homemade oatmeals.
-- There's just something about the newness that I feel inside whenever school starts back up, even though I'm no longer a student. My pulse heightens when I see the aisles of new, sparkling school supplies in the department stores. School buses make me smile. The memories of crisp autumn afternoons after school, too, resound in my mind....ballet on Mondays, piano lessons on Wednesdays. My piano teacher would have a bucket of candy corn on her table by the piano (maybe that's why I'm so hooked to these sugary little nuggets today).
-- I get inspired to read, read, read and write, write, write. Perhaps it is because the heat and drudgery of summer days puts me into some sort of stupor. When fall weather bombards my part of the planet, my heart comes alive again with prose, and my mind thirsts for knowledge like never before.
Enjoy your tastes of fall today, wherever you may be. Though the high today here will still reach 86 degrees, I have hope. Fall will be here when it wants to be....and I am ready.
I give to you another list....I haven't done this in a couple of weeks.....of the reasons why autumn is so dear to my heart.
-- The fragrance of fall....oh, if you could capture it in a bottle. It is a musty yet clean smell at the same time....the smell of decaying leaves almost seems decadent and romantic. The wind carries the scents of fall to your nose, the much cooler, less-humid wind, that is....and you realize that summer is on its way out.
-- You can step outside in time to see the flocks of geese and other birds flying overhead in perfect formation, calling with their solemn voices to one another. It is a reverie....makes you stand still and just stare in awe, such as you would at the ocean or at a war monument. You wonder where they're going....how many times they'll stop to rest or eat....and whether or not they're all kin to each other. (I wonder these things, anyway.)
-- You suddenly remember that it will soon be time to build fires in the fireplace. I don't have a fireplace which allows for use in my current home, however (it's a coal-burning fireplace from the 1930s)....but we all know people who have the old-fashioned hearths and piles of scented pine and cedar out behind their homes. Gas logs don't count.
-- I itch like never before to get back into the kitchen and cook up a storm. There is just a renewed inspiration for creativity in the culinary world when the temperatures dip and force you to look inside more than out for entertainment and leisure. Cooking never has as much joy attached to it for me than it does in the fall.
-- Fall means cooler weather, and cooler weather means I can pull out my sweaters again. I love wearing long sleeves....I feel so much more "together" in a cardigan and corduroys than I do in a tank top and Soffee shorts.
-- Iced teas and tart lemonades are replaced by hot chai teas and pumpkin-flavored coffees. Enough said.
-- Exercise outdoors suddenly becomes a viable option again. You don't have to go out to walk or jog at o'dark thirty in order to beat the heat. You can participate in any outdoor activity at 3pm and not break a sweat (well, not much of one). I love options.
-- Food, glorious comfort food. I have to admit that I cook in the fall mainly to enjoy the fragrance of the dishes as they cook.....I enjoy smelling them more than I enjoy eating them. It's the best air freshener on the market. Some of my favorite things to create in the fall include apple and pear crisps, hot cider, braised chicken with cabbage, rustic meatloaves, lentil stews, pumpernickel bread, and homemade oatmeals.
-- There's just something about the newness that I feel inside whenever school starts back up, even though I'm no longer a student. My pulse heightens when I see the aisles of new, sparkling school supplies in the department stores. School buses make me smile. The memories of crisp autumn afternoons after school, too, resound in my mind....ballet on Mondays, piano lessons on Wednesdays. My piano teacher would have a bucket of candy corn on her table by the piano (maybe that's why I'm so hooked to these sugary little nuggets today).
-- I get inspired to read, read, read and write, write, write. Perhaps it is because the heat and drudgery of summer days puts me into some sort of stupor. When fall weather bombards my part of the planet, my heart comes alive again with prose, and my mind thirsts for knowledge like never before.
Enjoy your tastes of fall today, wherever you may be. Though the high today here will still reach 86 degrees, I have hope. Fall will be here when it wants to be....and I am ready.
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