I think Autumn has got to be one of my favorite seasons. The bite in the air. Not cold, but enough to make your cheeks all rosy. The feeling of exhilaration, the quickening of the blood when you step outside.
The crisp, sharp tang of the air-- perhaps the occasional scent of someone's wood-burning fireplace?-- and the root-cellar smells of Mother Earth getting ready to bed down for the winter under her big white blanket.
The frenetic activity twice a day as children go to, and come home from, school.
Ah, The Fall. How is it that a season that is turning towards a cold hibernation can feel so alive?
I guess it's because, before we were industrialized, we had to hurry and harvest what remains of our crops, store and preserve as much food for winter as possible, get our houses ready for the cold, and basically batten down the hatches.
A flurry of activity; maybe it's some kind of racial memory. In my family, the grandmothers still can fruit, make preserves, and jars of pickles; they bake as if all the ovens will stop working once December hits; and they clean house in preparation for having to keep the windows closed all winter.
And it's only September.
This behaviour was handed down from grandmother to mother, and from my mother to me. There's just something about the autumn that makes me shift into Ancestral Recall mode, and I start wanting to do things around the house, too.
I spent all this weekend cleaning. We're talking Mr. Clean in a bucket with hot water, a sponge, squeegee mop and scrub brush applied to walls and windowsills type of cleaning. I vacuumed and dusted. I put things away neatly in closets and did every load of laundry I could find. Changed the bedding. Re-arranged things. Decided on new "rules" for myself to keep the clutter down to a minimum.
And afterwards, I baked an apple pie. Not because I wanted pie, but because I wanted my house to smell like apples and cinnamon. Hell, I can't even EAT any pie until my Atkins induction is over next Monday. But it's FALL, y'see, and pies must be baked. Floors must be cleaned.
Mrs. M and I are even discussing the decoration plans for fall. I've already bought some of those teeny little pumpkins from Safeway to grace our mantel. The predominant colors in our living room accessories are switching from green and gold to orange, red and brown.
It's a whole celebration, this turning of the seasons thing. It excites me. It's always been a time of beginnings to me-- of new projects and renewed vigor; kind of an eternal Back To School feeling, I guess.
What rituals do you go through in the fall? Does fall excite you the way it does me? I'd love to hear about it!
"Hell, I can't even EAT any pie until my Atkins induction is over next Monday. But it's FALL, y'see, and pies must be baked. Floors must be cleaned."
Further evidence that you are INSANE, and must be stopped. Who bakes a pie they can't eat? Freak.
;)
Oh... never heard of fall cleaning. Spring cleaning, yes. Fall, not so much.
ACK!
I'm suprised you've heard of spring cleaning!
Fall rituals... hmmm let me see... oh yes! Football season has started! No, I'm sorry, the CFL doesn't count, this is the best time of the year to be a sports fan, football starts up, hockey camp is a go, basketball season is just around the corner, and baseball races toward the only important time of their season, the October Classic, the World Series. Compared to the dog days of summer where you have meaningless baseball games and... the CFL's endlerss repetition of competition,'hot' WNBA action and, er... more baseball. The fall is a great time to be a sports fan! (Vikings 2-0, baby!)
Posted by: Agent Brucie on September 16, 2003 01:59 PMBTW, if y'all need someone to eat that there pie...
And today on the spurts...
Hang on a fig! Holy Honkin' Hay-zeus! I don't watch spurts! I just report spurts!
So fall is all about... pie I guess.
And quit dissin' the CFL, damn you. :D (Only sport I *do* give a fig about...)
Ard (aka ACK!)
PS - Yes, I know about spring cleaning. Whore. :D
Posted by: Ard on September 16, 2003 03:56 PMOf course he knows about spring cleaning - Mrs. ACK told him!
Posted by: Quixote on September 16, 2003 06:50 PMFall, to me, is about waiting for things to happen.
Thanksgiving.
Hallowe'en (Samhain)
Remembrance Day
Christmas
New Years
A whole new year where everything starts up again after everyone's finished gorging themselves from Christmas.
This year will be different, of course. Not living at my parents' place, I won't be seeing Mum do the yearly spaz attack of "I MUST clean this house, dig out the fall/winter ornaments, bake a bunch of stuff, and get ready for unexpected company". :)
Posted by: Maire on September 16, 2003 08:33 PMYeah, see, Maire's mom sounds like she goes through the same frenzy I go through every year-- as does my mother, and grandmother. It's matrilineal-- except my mother only had sons, so guess what? To NONE of my friends' surprise, I get to be the girl. Boo Yah.
Everyone has to have a friend like Agent Brucie, too. Sports. Why the HELL is it always sports. Saturday mornings living with Bruce are a living hell. A LIVING HELL! For someone like me who only wants the cartoons but at the stroke of noon-- RAAAAHHH the screaming noises of beer-soaked sports fans and the Saturday Game of Whatever which goes til at least suppertime. Kee-RIST. Thank GOD he sat on my lap and wiggled that whole time.
Or did I just dream that? It was during his long silky red hair period. It might have been a dream. OR WAS IT?
Sorry, Brucie-- Mrs. M, who's breastfeeding, has DECIMATED my innocent lovely pie. I'll bake another one. Pie is my life now that I make my own crust and everything, right from scratch.
ACK: Trivia this Sunday eve? I'm baking pie.
M
Posted by: Agent M on September 16, 2003 11:07 PM Dude! Sign me up for pie! My own feelings on the season are thus; Fall is cool, but Winter sucks major ass. Fall is the best season, I think. All the leaves turn colour, making this already pretty city downright beautiful. But then Winter arrives and ruins it for all of us. Dead grey skies loom over dead grey tree skeletons, and the COLD, oh man, the cold...
It's about that time every year that I think, why did I come back from Vancouver? But there are reasons. I can neither confirm nor deny that there are sound reasons for moving here from Vancouver. Whatever. Sign me up for pie.
Garething
Posted by: Garething on September 17, 2003 05:37 AM>Trivia this Sunday eve? I'm baking pie.
Oh good. A pie no-one but Marci can eat. Damn Atkins. Damn it to HELL.
ACK!
(Who would strangle cute fluffy bunnies for something sweet...oh YES.)
PS - We'll discuss the trivia thing. ;)
Posted by: Agent ACK on September 17, 2003 08:37 AM>Pie is my life now
Really. Pie.
*mental note: Don't go to AgentM's house alone anymore. The fall season has caused him to lose his gourd.*
Trivia is not possible for me, I'm doing the nasty nightshift this weekend...
Posted by: MrsACK on September 17, 2003 10:48 AMFall is my favourite season.
You can make pies for me anytime!!!
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