Welcome Autumn! (?)

Summer is now OFFICIALLY over.  Autumn is here.  It's time drink our pumpkin spice lattes, pick apples and put up Halloween decorations. (Ok, technically, according to Bfth regulations you shouldn't put up Halloween decorations before the 30th; unless you are my neighbor who is CRAZY about Halloween and also works crazy hours as an EMT/Firefighter.  Because of this, I give him a BIG PASS.  No one else is exempt!)

As much as I LOVE summer (and I DO LOVE summer), I think I might love autumn a little more.  Of course I love pumpkin spice! (http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/bfths-pumpkin-spice-season-rules-and.html)  I love pumpkins period.  I tend to buy more that I need (do I really NEED any since I'm not eating them?).  We decorate/carve a few. (Can't do that before the week before Halloween or then tend to get rot/mold.  We've also had a problem with squirrels digging into them.  While I appreciate the good taste of pumpkin, to stave off gnawing animals, I coat/wipe the outside of the pumpkin with Pine Sol.  It works!  Just wish I had known this BEFORE a squirrel tried to chew its way through the screen in my kitchen window several years back.  I'm no fan of the Pine Sol scent, but more importantly, neither are squirrels.)  I always leave a few on the front stoop just the way they are because the just make me smile.

Pumpkins, mums and leaves changing color just make me smile and give me a mood boost.  Funny how the colors orange, yellow and red are NOT my favorites, but when it comes to autumn they are.  I just cannot get enough.  Hence the multiple pumpkins and mum plants.  A hint when it comes to mums...put a stake through the side of the planter and press down firmly into the ground.  The wind seems to kick up around here (as if the wind knew I had just purchased several pots of mums), and I was forever running after plants.  The stake keeps them in their place, for the most part.  Sometimes they still fall over, but...

 I also love crisp apples.  (Preferably golden delicious with a side of cheddar cheese.  YUM!)  Apples this time of year have that special smell, texture and taste that I only can seem to find in fall.  Paired with a good glass of wine, how can you go wrong?  (Cranberry wine is a winner in the autumn too.)

Warmish days and cool nights are the best part of the season, or at least the early part of it.  (Which is why the ONLY thing I DON'T like about autumn is the fact that as the season winds down, the weather gets cold and sometimes even snowflakes fall.  The reminder of the winters to come, is the one thing that makes me dislike the season.)  Who doesn't like to snuggle under a warm blanket?  Or throw on a warm sweatshirt in the morning, only to peel it off mid-day as the sun warms the earth?  It's time to turn off the air conditioning, open the windows and let the cool breeze come in.  (Of course as I write this, it's supposed to get into the upper 80s today and tomorrow will feel like 90?  This is autumn in the mid-Atlantic region???)  At last my electric bill will go down!  (At least until we put up those Halloween decorations and plug everything in...Then that bill will go up, up, UP again!)

Autumn is a time of change.  Embrace it and ENJOY it!