It’s fall, y’all!
Fall has always been a magical time of year to me, as if the earth has been saving up all year for a grand finale. It is majestic, yet cozy. Oliver Wendell Holmes share my sentiments, saying, “October, the extravagant sister, has ordered an immense amount of the most gorgeous forest tapestry for her grand reception.”
I love the easy pace of summer but living in the Pine Belt in the summer has its own set of problems: an overabundance of stinging insects and smothering heat. We joke that the air is thick enough to see, or that it hits you in the face like a hot, wet washrag.
Mid-August movement is likely to be from air-conditioned home to air-conditioned work to air-conditioned supermarket and then back again. I swear I spend the latter part of summer in hibernation, waiting for a livable climate.
Fall, as the old saying goes, is a southerner’s reward for surviving summer.
Fall is like spring again without all the problems. Spring means glorious color in the Pine Belt, due to an abundance of flowering trees, but it also means pollen and sneezing, and that the dreadful summer heat is on its way. By mid-April even a central attic fan can’t chase away the heat, and the air conditioner – followed by the inevitable sky-high electric bills – is pressed into service, chugging its endless litany day and night.
April is also when the pine trees have their spring jubilee, spreading bright yellow pollen everywhere. It clogs window screens and nasal passages, floats in puddles created by April rains, and turns the tops of trashcans and automobiles a brilliant neon.
Fall, if the conditions are right, means color as well – the high color of autumn leaves. While spring is white and reds and pinks and yellows, fall is scarlet and crimson, orange and flame, saffron, and even red purples dotted with the pure green of pine needles. The breezes eddy and cool us, windows are thrown open, and our bodies feel alive without the energy-sapping heat.
Autumn is leaves to be crunched, the heady scents of a chilly day, skies so blue they hurt, fall football weekends, ripe apples and fair food, cleansing breezes, and rainy weekend days just right for reading or napping.
It was a blustery, cool fall day when our friends at USM welcomed us with our cameras, beautiful models and amazing clothes. The photos are beautiful, and I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we did. So, cozy up in your favorite cable-knit sweater, grab hot chocolate and enjoy!
