by Karen Templeton
Laura, head on over to templetonwriter@aol.com and leave me your snail mail addy, and I’ll get a copy of THE DOCTOR’S DO-OVER out to you ASAP!
Maybe I’m only remembering what I want to remember (it happens!), but since when I was a kid school started after Labor Day, I always associate September with autumn – cooler temps, bright blue skies, yellow and orange and red leaves. Promises of Halloween and Thanksgiving and candy corn and pumpkin pie and sweaters smelling of cedar and mothballs. Scented candles. The first clinks and hisses of the radiators in my childhood apartment on the third floor of a late nineteenth century row house in Baltimore. Summer was to be endured – at least before my parents finally installed a window air conditioner in their bedroom (where I slept on the floor on the hottest nights). But fall meant blessed relief. And all those comforting scents and tastes and promises…because Christmas was only two months away from Halloween, right?
In any case, now I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where fall really doesn’t kick in until mid-October or so, and I’m trying not to be annoyed that it’s still summer. In fact, as I write this the cooler is on (a swamp cooler, used a lot in arid climates, rather than refrigerated air), because it’s already about 90. And I’m sitting in a sundress. A sundress I can’t wait to pack away, because by now I’m soooo sick of my summer clothes I could scream. Cool weather clothes seem so much more versatile, somehow, the way you can pair things up so many different ways. Sundresses are just…there. Fun in June, boring as heck by August. By September…fuggedaboutit.
Then, to add insult to injury, the fall clothing catalogs start arriving in my mailbox, to tease and torture, when the thought of even touching a sweater makes me sweat. Still, because it is September, I know it won’t be long until I can sleep under my comforter, drape myself in a plush throw on the couch to watch a movie, enjoy a cup of hot chocolate before I go to bed…get back into baking and making stews…take long, leaf-shuffling walks…ah, bliss!
So what are your favorite fall activities? Or are you already mourning the end of summer? Or, if you’re in the southern hemisphere, are you anxious for spring/summer? To celebrate the new season I’m giving away a copy of my brand new Special Edition, THE DOCTOR’S DO-OVER, which actually takes place in the fall. Leave a comment and you’ll be entered, and I’ll announce the winner HERE on Friday morning!
Fave Fall activity? Not sweating when I get ready for work in the morning.
That works for me, too! LOL!
Same here! That’s one of my big problems with hot weather…grrr!!!
We hit 94 degrees here the other day, so warm weather is still very much with us! The humidity is pretty high too. My fave fall activities? Watching college football, watching the leaves change colors, drinking apple cider and turning on the gas fireplace!:)
94 and humid? Ugh. You have my sympathies. Fall is very pretty in VA, though, as I recall.
Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! My family thinks I’m crazy, but I can smell a change in the air when it’s finally on its way. There’s a subtle shift –not necessarily a temperature change or anything associated with the other yummy scents that make us think of autumn. It’s a fleeting crispness that makes me want to breath deeply. I always love it when I smell fall in the air! Haven’t caught a whiff of it yet, but I’m sure it will blow in any day now.
For me, the change is the light. It’s clearer, somehow, the colors more intense. Even though it was still very warm at sunset last night, everything seemed brighter. I’ll take it!
Ooh, yes! If the light is changing, it must mean fall will be in the air very soon!
Hi Karen! (jazz hands LOL)
Just popping in to say Fall is a figment of my imagination since I live in So. Cal. I watch movies and TV shows that show Fall and sigh. I long to wear cardigan sweaters and turtlenecks. And boots!
Truth be told – I never pack any clothes away because I can pretty much wear the same stuff all year long.
What do I like about Fall – everything i can’t have. I love pumpkin patches and silly looking scarecrows. I love having the house cool enough so I can bake something. yeah, I’m with you, I love a good stew.
Your new book sounds great! (jazz hands)
Yeah, I miss my boots, too. Soon, soon…
Fall is such a cool time of the year. The air smells crisper and the leaves change color. Halloween and Thanksgiving are the two holidays I love the most. Halloween for the pumpkins and scarecrows and Thanksgiving for the food. Right now though it’s warm, humid and rainy. yuck.
Warm, muggy rain is the pits, so I feel your pain. If we can all hold on for just another few weeks…
Karen, you bring the fall alive. And we kind of have it here. We’re getting a day at 90 degrees this week, but otherwise it’s 70′s-80′s all the way from here on in. In fact, by next week, I’m guessing we’ll be sticking in the 70′s with nice, cool nights.
I do love Oregon. And the leaves are already turning. I think I love that the best: the fall colors. And I like getting out my few pieces of fall decor. That will be coming a little later this month.
You know, I really must get out to the PNW one of these days. Every time I see it on House Hunters I just sigh — all that GREEN!
When I was a kid, school always started after Labor Day too. But it seemed it was always the hotest time of the year. Why they start it in August is unreal. Also we never got out until June instead of May. I lived in Illinois. I am ready for fall. My favorite fall time this year is to head to Ohio and see my oldest daughter and family. Got to have some Grandma time with my 1 1/2 year old Connor who will turn 2 while we are there. I don’t get to see him often.
Here’s to Grandma time! Have fun with Connor — two is such a fun age! (But then, I say that about all the ages. )
Karen, I love the fall as well—colors, smells, and holiday anticipation galore. I’m originally from Oregon and seem to recall a much more distinct set of seasons. Now living in Alabama, autumn feels far away. Here, the seasons feel like hot, hell-hot, and cold. The spring and fall just don’t seem to last long enough, at least to suit me.
Just wanted to leave a comment. Please don’t enter me in the give-away. I already bought the Doctor’s Do-Over and absolutely loved it. You have an amazing voice.
Callie — thank you so much! If you win, you can pick another book from my backlist. I’m flexible like that.
Fall is absolutely my favorite! (Although I think some stores celebrate a little prematurely with selling things for Halloween in August…) But I love the leaves changing and carving pumpkins (well pumpkin related everything! To scented candles to pumpkin spice coffees) and I love the coolness in the air and needing a light jacket to snuggle in to. Every year my family and I go to a huge corn maze in October that takes us hours to find our way out. Plus, my and my mom’s birthdays are both in October.
Four of my five sons were born in the fall — one September and three in October! So, yeah, fall reminds me of other happy days, too.
And the corn maze sounds like so much fun. No corn mazes in NM, though…
It’s spring, here, and horribly windy, which we often get at this time of year. I would love spring more if it didn’t come with these windy days.
We have very windy springs, too. Not fun, blech.
The only thing I miss once summer is over is my garden. Other than that, I just adore fall. And I get to live in upstate NY where it’s just so beautiful. Love the cooler temps, the comfort foods, getting ready for Christmas…cannot wait!
Love fall in NY! In fact, my wedding was in the fall, and we honeymooned at Lake Mohonk. Gorgeous!
Mohonk is gorgeous! I live about 30 minutes from there…try to get there for their breakfast buffet and a hike at least once a year!
Oooh, I remember those buffets. I think I gained ten pounds in the four days we were there, LOL!
I don’t know that I have a ‘favorite’ fall activity. When my boys were little I used to love taking them to the pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins. Now they are ‘too old’ for that kind of stuff. LOL I do enjoy getting out in the yard and getting it cleaned up for the winter months. I enjoy planting flowers in the spring, but also love cleaning them up in the fall….the clean look of the yard. We live in a new build, so no trees but we still have to rake some leaves from the trees across the road. I like going to the local football games and having hot cocoa.
Trees, I have. Two big ashes in front, two huge mulberries in back. We generally just blow the leaves in back down to the fence and let them act as mulch for the winter, heh.
I love fall, it’s my favorite time of year. We were so drought stricken this spring and summer that it’s going to be an ugly fall. The trees look dead. We finally got some rain thanks to Isaac. I’m grateful we received much needed moisture but I feel bad about the flooding in the south. I can’t wait to start putting out some fall decorations, pumpkins included.
Not much moisture — or I should say, less than usual — here, either. My mulberry trees are already dropping leaves like mad. So it’s beginning to look like fall, but not feel like it.
i love fall because of college football!!! ROLL TIDE
and other reasons like the colors and football and thanksgiving and football
For whatever reasons, I never got into football. My dad, however, was…and one of my most pleasant fall memories is doing homework in my room to the sounds of a football game on TV. (Yes, I’m weird.
)
Fall = vacation time for me! We live in Vegas and have family in Missouri. October is the best time of year for both me and my husband because it’s easiest to get 3 weeks off at that time than in the summer! Plus–it’s after the miserable heat of summer, and before the snow and ice of winter. We drive through Arizona, New Mexico, the panhandle of Texas, and Oklahoma, then up to KC or STL. A two-day drive, but it’s all highway. I LOVE my autumn road trips!
I’ve seen pics of St. Louis in the fall — absolutely stunning! I’d love to do a fall roadtrip some day, so I envy you.
My favorite fall activity is the return of football. I love spending my Saturdays watching my favorite teams play.
I am from tropist country,we only have 2 season here rainy and summer….
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