So, every year at about this time I get a little wistful for fall. And every year at about this time those that I love spurn me. Candidly, I’ve been told to keep my pumpkin spice away from their margaritas. It does seem rather appropriate to mention that margaritas are typically a winter drink as limes are in season in January/February. However, there is a ferocity of emotion that greets my wistfulness for fall that prevents me from speaking truth to those I love. So, I gradually acknowledge that “no one hates winter more than me” and it’s “just a slight twinge… of course I love summer!”
All of that is true, of course. No one could possibly hate winter more than I do. I am not its biggest fan. Additionally, I do love summer. I wait all year for it. And yet, I’m still a little wistful for fall. There’s a lot of reasons for it and all of them – despite what those I love seem to think – are valid.
First, by this time of the year, I’ve been sweating through my shorts and t-shirts for a couple of months. So, as much as I hate the cold, I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of too hot, either. Instead, I like it “just about right” which is somewhere between 65 and 75 degrees. Any colder and I’m miserable and any hotter, well, you got the picture.
So, by August, I’ve been sweating for awhile, particularly as it now gets regularly into the mid-80s and even low 90s around here. Adding to that, we do a lot of outside work. And finally, it did seem that I tolerated the heat better when we did not have central air conditioning. Now that we have it, I think I’ve become less tolerant.
On top of that, Fall is literally my favorite time of the year. From Labor Day through New Year’s Eve is the best time of the year for me. I enjoy it all. I love the days getting a little cooler and a lot less humid. I love the smell of dried leaves in the sunshine. In ordinary times, I love the whole “going back to school” and football season stuff. I am totally into the fall harvesting and canning. I like the apples, squash, and other fall fruits that come in. I like the cooler nights when you can slip on a pair of jeans and a sweater and go out for a nice walk in the crisp air.
I adore the magic of Halloween. I still make my husband carve pumpkins and take me to the local pumpkin farm. This year, I even made him grow me one pumpkin plant. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and you can’t think of Halloween without witches and wizards and Harry Potter. Everything about mid-to-late fall makes me happy.
Then, there’s Thanksgiving and oh my goodness, what a holiday! In fact, it’s the holiday I traditionally host. So, there’s a made-from-scratch Thanksgiving Dinner on the menu every year. Our turkey comes from the turkey farm just up the road, our mashed potatoes and green been casserole have their “roots” – literally – from our backyard. (Get it? Ha!) Everything is as local as we can make it.
I’ll leave Christmas and New Year’s alone for awhile because those two holidays get all of the attention anyway. Instead, I’ll just focus on fall and how absolutely spectacular it is. From the decorating – I get out all of my fall/winter stuff as soon as it turns September 1st – to the cooler days to the fantastic harvests to the ongoing traditions.
This year, perhaps, I look forward to it more than ever. As I do, I realize two things: one is that fall may be vastly different this year than in year’s past or in what I am anticipating and two, I am unconsciously hoping that fall brings some return to normality. I get it… I genuinely do. I have been INCREDIBLY lucky throughout this whole pandemic and there are so many who are suffering in so many ways that I have no right or intent to complain about my lot in life. I also know that a return to normalcy could be months or even years away. So, fall will likely bring just a little more of the same.
And yet, as I sit here in my air conditioning bemoaning another hot, sunshiny day, I am allowing myself just that little bit of wistfulness. It will pass. For now, a girl can dream.
The Yuppie Homesteader 