I couldn't think of another topic today. I just think the weather is really nice outside.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

Answers

The colors, gotta be the colors. We're way up here in Eastern Canada (next to Maine) and the colors are starting to peak.
There is a line of trees across the field that the sun hits just so when it goes down. The colors explode into brilliance, glowing in hot shades that belie the crispness of the air outside. The smell of woodsmoke is in the air, the sounds of an occasional chainsaw or tractor motor fill in the soundtrack. The wind whispers a chilly tune, and my mouth can taste the steaming mug of hot chocolate that awaits me indoors.
Indoors, the warmth of a wood stove warms us for the second time, the first time was when we cut, split and stacked it all. My eyes take in the piles of the fruits & vegetables of our summer labour to last us through the winter. It feels good to see them there, waiting.
Outside, night has fallen, the darness creeping into every corner, the stars twinkling in their crisp brilliance as we hunker down waiting for the coming snow.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

i grew up in southern ontario (canada) and fall has always always been my favorite season. i love the windy, blustery days where the leaves skim along the ground. i love jumping into piles of leaves and having leaf fights. i love the glorious colours in High Park. i love that woodsmoke smell that drifts into the evening air. i love the faded quality of the light - sort of washed out and clear. i love warm wooly turtleneck sweaters. i love the fact that you don't quite need gloves yet, so you can feel the crisp air on your hands while your body is warm. i love the change in the way the air smells; winter is just an expectation.

i live in seattle now. it started to rain today. it won't stop until june. that's fall, winter and spring. all the same. 90% of the trees are pine. not a lot of colour. the air is damp, not crisp. the wind is laden with coolish moist air, not blustery and fresh.

it kinda sucks.

but hey, no freeze-your-ears-off winter either, so i suppose it's a fair trade :)

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

When the air turns crisp, animals come out more! I know it sounds weird, but the zoos and petting farms are the most fun in the Fall because you can see all the creatures - they aren't hibernating, or lying still and hiding to get out of the hot sun.

My husband and I love to go to the farmer's market at the beginning of October and get a few bales of hay, clusters of corn stalks and pumpkins to make an autumn display for the front yard. I always buy a huge bag of candy corn for my pumpkin dish on the coffee table. The windows stay open at night, and if I'm in an especially Fall-ish mood, I'll make some hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks we can drink while we watch the colored leaves drift to the ground. I feel oh-so-Martha Stewart in the Fall.

Oh, and when it gets cool I can drag out my clunky boots and sweaters! Waiting for autumn is the only thing that gets me through the summer. Then comes the Halloween Costume Party we throw every year, and after that I usually don't remember much because it feels like Christmas just steamrolls right over me.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

My birthday was a couple days ago, so that's always a plus. I'm like everyone else and love the colors of fall. I also love wearing turtleneck sweaters and jeans and taking walks and hearing the leaves crunch under my feet. It makes me very happy. Speaking of which, I wonder what the weather is going to end up being today.

It's 1:20 in the afternoon and so far we've had sprinkles, then pouring-down-rain, then cloudiness, then more rain, and then the sun came out about two minutes ago, and now it's cloudy again. What's up with that? You gotta love that Indiana weather. I love listening to the radio when they give the weekly forecast...

"Today it looks like it's going to be sunny with a high of 79, but tonight it'll turn cold and we could have a chance of frost overnight, with lows down in the mid-30's. Tomorrow, get out those winter coats, because the temperature's going to drop to a record of 25 for the high tomorrow, with winds gusting up to 40 miles an hour and a 70% chance of flurries. Toward afternoon, we'll see some sun and it could warm up to about 60 degrees before the sun goes down. Sunday, the morning will peak to around 85 degrees before the rains come - 3-4 inches is possible before 7 p.m., in which case it'll drop to around 30 degrees. We have some grapefruit-sized hail on the way, so stay tuned for how to prepare for that."

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

pumpkin roll, leaves to play in, halloween (oooh, costumes!!!!), the yankee candle that's scented like spiced pumpkin, apple picking, apple cider, apple donuts, corn still in its husk that's wrapped in tin-foil and cooked on a grill, then loaded with butter and salt, irish knit sweaters, sweaters of all kinds, riding my pony through the crisp cool air, him feeling frisky because of said air and us having a great time, carving jack-o-lanterns, beef stew (it always tastes the best in the fall and winter...), the way the light hits the trees in late afternoon...

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

DOH! i forgot the BEST part! my birthday is in the fall! i made it to 26! woohoo!

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

Autumn is the best season of the year. The leaves change pretty colors, the summer heat finally breaks, there are fewer tornadoes and not much snow, I get to take my leather jacket and my trenchcoat out of storage, and most importantly...Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

the leaves, no question. at home in maryland, the change isn't much, but here in minnesota, it's stunning. i've taken so many pictures ...

the best thing on campus was this one tree that - because of the way the sun fell on it - turned orange and red and yellow on one side, and is still mostly green on the other. but it did it in almost a perfect line down the middle of the tree. now one half is bare and the other is green. it's surreal.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

I love the way the air smells. I love the leaves. I love seeing the geese in a V-formation flying the hell out of here. Fall is my favorite time of year.

Maggie, Our weather is just as bad in the Chicagoland area. It keeps you on your toes!

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

in san francisco, october is summer...80 degrees, light breezes coming inland instead of from the ocean, and pure bliss daily...

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

Ugh...fall in Sarasota...wait. Any season in Sarasota. I wake up and put on a skirt and short sleeved shirt. I get to school at 6:45 and am slightly chilled. In first and second period (same building, no going outside) I am freezing my ass off. In third period (9:30) I walk across campus and get to chemistry, where I am boiling hot. Lunchtime (11:36) I am slightly chilled. At the end of the day (1:40), I am walking to my locker and am boiling hot. It doesn't get any better because my sisters boyfriend forgot his locker combination and couldn't get in his locker for 20 minutes and we couldn't leave without him. So, we get home and at about 3...it begins pouring. Mind you, it has been brilliantly sunny all day long. Go figure.

NOTE: My school is in Florida, and therefore, open-air. We have 2 campuses (east and west/new and old) which each have several different buildings, which each house a different department (math, science, english, history, ESE, etc). Of course, this is SO convinent because this means you have to walk all over creation to get to each class. Also, our lockers are outside, and by no means near any of our classes.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 1999

Ooh. Fall. I have so many mixed feelings about fall. Always, always, always, major change happens for me, usually around October. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes both. This year it's both. I'm in the middle of moving out from the ex-boyfriend I broke up with last October.

The good part is that it's to my own place. But there's this bittersweet thing of leaving someone you've lived with for three years. But, despite my aching back from sleeping on my floor, and the fact that I have no furniture and no heat yet... I'm happy this morning. :)

-- Anonymous, October 09, 1999

i like going back to school and seeing everyone again. i like those gray, chilly days that have a sinister air that just make me think of halloween. i like planning things to do on the weekends, like attending the olympia film fest or my best friend's birthday.

i really like the clouds around here in the fall. they're all gray, but they're every shade of gray and always in bizarre shapes. i also love the dance in the rain. if it's drizzling, which is gross, i have to stand out there longer, just so enough raindrops accumulate on my forehead to feel like it's been raining hard. foggy sunrises over rainier are wonderful.

which reminds me, i need to go work on a photography project.. :)

-- Anonymous, October 09, 1999

The colored leaves. The smell in the air. The 70 degree weather. Halloween!!! My dog and I playing in the leaves. Planting bulbs. Here's a dopey question: Do the leaves turn colors in the South?

-- Anonymous, October 11, 1999

Yes, Amy. In fact, some of the prettiest fall landscapes I've ever seen were on drives in central and northern Georgia. That's why I always miss GA around fall and spring.

See, Austin doesn't really have fall or spring. Right now, it's pretty nice. This will last 2 weeks if we're lucky. Then it will get hot again, and then it will be winter (which is like the fall for anyone living up north).

Regardless, right now I just love driving with the windows down. Oh, and new TV season.

-- Anonymous, October 12, 1999