Romantic Notions of Autumn

Whilst growing up in Florida during some of my Wonder Bread years, I missed autumn something fierce. I also missed snow, but that is another story.

So I moved back to NY...I lived on my college campus amongst some of the most vivid colours in nature (Westchester) and then had the good fortune thereafter to work in Connecticut and drive up the Merritt Parkway to experience even more chroma and hue in its maximum glory. Oh, and yeah, and then back to NY and Westchester and curving around the Sprain Brook Parkway, all trees and rocks and orange-reds at 50mph...

I love fall. My body loves fall. Once the humidity drops away, once the air crisps, my humor rises and my energy begins to explode. My senses come alive. I have found that others agree. Fall may come a bit later here in South Carolina, but it is no less intense. Let it be said, though: I am no fan of Indian Summer...let's just get on with fall (and snow, let's have some snow...). I like the cool and the cold.

I think this weekend we will be going up to Flat Rock, NC to pick apples. North Carolina and its Blue Ridge Parkway boasts some of the most beautiful foliage in the country, I have found. And so close! Still a little early right now for fall colour, but I learned that the apples for pie-making are ready at this time so off we go.

Already, though, the Carolinas have a fully-red maple here, a brief flirt with orange at the top of another tree, and against the deep green, these little bits of colour pop.

Yep, fall loves me too. I am jonesing for more of it, missing the New England component of it, but real content in the glow of my romance with Carolina autumn.