September Song

Tomorrow is the first day of fall, a season that I've always loved.

I was a nerd girl, and was always eager to get back to school. Come September, I still always experience a few back-to-school vibes. 

September usually means pleasant days and cool nights. It alway means a trip to Brookfield Orchard for a big bag of McIntosh apples. And some penny candy - even though it's been many harvest moons since penny candy cost a penny. I'm ever in hope that the Mary Janes, the Bullseyes, the Squirrel Nuts are fresh and not going to tug at my fillings. And that the maple sugar candy won't be stale.

Even though the Olde Towne Team is, alas, not a play-ah this year, I'll spend October jumping in and out of playoff games and the World Series. 

Come Halloween, I don't think I'll ever grow tired of seeing trick-or-treaters. I don't get any where I live, but my neighborhood - Beacon Hill - is always a hive of activity. Many houses go all out decorating, and that's always fun to see. On Halloween, I'll walk around and check out the decor and the Disney Princesses, the Buzz Lightyears, the Marios...ever on the lookout for clever and original costumes. Ever in hope that there'll be an outfit or two that look homemade by the kids without all that much of a parental assist. 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Hurrah for the annual turkey dinner!

Weirdly, creepily, there'll still be green leaves on plenty of the trees up until Thanksgiving and beyond. But there'll still be some glorious leaf-changing to behold. Some of it in my very own front yard, the Boston Public Garden. (Not a great picture, but you get the point!)

I walk in the Garden pretty much every day, rain or shine, and here's what the paths I walk look like on a rainy day, before the garden crew has leaf blown them away.

Fall means the end to baseball, and the end to the wonderful summer light. Not to mention the end of cherries, white nectarines, peaches, plums, and blueberries. (Baseball, light in the evening, and all that wonderful fruit are pretty much the only things I miss about summer.)

I don't mind at all that, in the fall, there'll be an increasing number of dreary, grey, often rainy days. I'm rather fond of fall's melancholy. All the more reason to make a cup or tea, or take a nap.

Fall begins tomorrow. Bring it!

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Wondering what the difference between fall and autumn is? There is none. Autumn is the preferred British usage; fall - which is more informal - is more US of A.