falling into fall

I love the arrival of fall, probably as much as I enjoy the arrival of spring. Each brings out the best of a variety of things, and I find myself looking forward to the arrival of each season more each year. It's not that I don't enjoy winter and summer, because I do, but spring and fall are much more appreciated around here for some reason.

With the arrival of fall, I get:

• waking up in a cold bedroom, and grabbing a pair of socks immediately
• watching my burning bushes in the backyard turn a glorious shade of red
• cooking with pumpkin - bars, muffins, bread, cake - all of it yum!
• the leaves are starting to turn from green to golds, reds, oranges and browns
• crunch crunch crunch as we walk to and from school
• heavy foods - stews, soups, casseroles - everything that was too much for summer
• jeans and sweaters
• apples and cranberries, together and apart, ready to be turned into applesauce, cranberry sauce, apple pie filling, butter and jam
  

I've already hit the pumpkin hard this week - three batches of pumpkin muffins, in addition to the two loaves of banana bread.

Even though we're having a bit of a last hurrah for summer - it's been in the upper 70's all week - the mornings have been glorious, perfect for a cup of hot coffee and a bit of a book before the day gets rolling.

Even though I know that fall comes to an end, and my least favorite weather follows, I'm glad that fall is here.