...and Raking Leaves, and Brewing Cider, and Picking Pumpkins...

Though not acknowledged by any official calender, today was the First Day of Autumn. Oh, I'm not saying that autumn is here for good and summer weather is all over, but today marked the Beginning of the End of the hot, humid, lemonade-sipping days and the start of the chilly, pumpkinish, Decidedly Fall days.

And, oh boy, am I glad.

Autumn is wonderful, because you can walk outside without saying to yourself, "Am I or am I not a loaf of bread in the oven?" It's wonderful because of the monumental First Pot of Hot Tea on the first frosty morning, (and keep in mind that frosty to a Strevel woman is about 55 degrees and anything below that is very frosty.) Oh, and the trip to the pumpkin patch with all the children, when you get to wade through grass up to your thigh and carefully select the perfect pumpkin. Such fun! And, of course, autumn wouldn't be autumn, (and what a shame that would be!) without the scent from bluegrey, delightfully smoky leaf fires greeting you as you drive down the road and make you want to go apple picking or jump in a crinkly pile of leaves and get bruised knees.

And the trees sound different in the Autumn. Don't laugh - they do! The rustle of their leaves is somehow more pronounced, less like whispering and more like real rustling. If you don't know what I mean, I am sorry for you. You're missing out of one of the greatest joys of autumn. If you do know what I mean, well, then you know. It's rather hard to describe.

Today, it stayed coolish all day long - even at high noon, and the nicest autumnal breeze has been swaying the trees, (and yes, making them to rustle in the Way Particular to Fall,) and is gently lifting my bangs as I sit here with all the doors and windows open. I am so intoxicated by the sudden shift in the atmosphere that I almost ran out and bought some of those awful, sparkly, huge pumpkin earrings that old ladies fancy. But thankfully my common sense wasn't so drunk from the cool breeze and the crisp smell of Fall in the air that it couldn't assure me that those earrings are and always will be very tacky. Besides, I want my sisters to speak to me in public.

I have to run now. I'm off to dance with the oak and elm fairies and make crowns of sumac leaves for my hair.