From someone GLAD autumn is around the corner

I feel so sorry for those afflicted with seasonal affective disorder; I can't imagine it. I have the other weather disorder -- I get depressed if the weather doesn't change. I love a sunny day as much as anyone, but about ten on end with no variations and my jaw starts clenching. I love rain and wind and everything. I wouldn't mind a couple of weeks of snow. And when I was a kid I thought Texas threw hurricanes to welcome my family home from vacation.

I sat on my patio yesterday evening after working too long and too hard in the heat, putting in a fall garden, and I saw a "love bug" -- the first sign the seasons are about to change down here. I couldn't have been happier. It gives me hope. Relief from the heat -- the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness -- HALLOWEEN! Time to reap and plan and have suppers of soup and homemade bread. (Plus I gotta admit I like my winter clothes better than my summer clothes! ;p)

No point -- just an observation.

I agree.

But for some reason, I'm one of those people who don't really like sunny days. A 'perfect weather' day for me is just under 80 degrees, overcast enough to be 'shady' without being dreary, and a nice brisk breeze with some unpredictable gusts thrown in just for fun. In short, the outer bands of hurricanes are just perfect. I don't want the eyes to hit land, of course, but as long as I can stay just under the outer bands, I'm great ;-) (Yes, I know I'm wierd.)

I'm right with you, Zoo! With at least a threat of rain, of course.

I love autumn (favorite season) and the leaves that change color, plus my wedding anniv. is Oct 1, the 10th year!

Also, I "can't" tolerate heat because I have MS and because of that, I 'hate' the heat in the summer. If the humidity is high, the dew point is on the high side and there's no wind, I'm inside looking out. Bummer!

The days are normally cooler in autumn and I can tolerate that! Sometimes, they're downright cold. Oh well, I'll just have to add more layers.

Wonder how many days till the 'offical' first day of autumn?!

Marilyn

I'm counting the days to the first frost, after which I can garden without covering myself in insect repellent. Deerfly and mosquitoes are BAD this year. Got bitten through my clothing several times. All part of nature's rich tapestry, though - the birds and bats gotta eat.

June

I don't know if I have a favorite season. There's only 4 to choose from and each one has it's good and bad points.
1. Spring wet and dreary or sunny and dry and 70 degrees and things are turning green.

2.Summer hot and dry or early morning rain and 60 degrees and low humidity and flowers are blooming.

3.Fall again cold and rainy or indian summer to give us a good send off.

4. Winter 30 below and blizzard conditions or15 degrees and a light snow for making snowmen or the beauty of everything covered in ice.

No I'm not an eternal optimist but I thought and this is what I felt. Sure I grip about the weather but I really don't want to live anywhere else.

To me, fall is the best time for gardening. It's when I'll be planting and transplanting some shrubs and trees, dividing some plants like lilies and hostas, and putting in lots of bulbs. Whatever I do in fall seems to last longer than other seasons... weeding, mowing, planting annuals - that stuff just has to get done over and over.

I've always loved spring. The light begins to return, and things begin to green up. Autumn is sad. It turns dark, and everything dies or goes to sleep.

I think what White Hydrangea said is what I LIKE about autumn. Maybe that's odd. But I love to sleep, and I love that feeling of drifting off -- snugging down to renew. You see the world through a whole new color palette. Ves, you're right, too -- something good, and something sad, about every season. claypa is right, too. See -- no wrong concepts about anything! That's what I love about gardening and gardeners. You learn patience and all about the circle. Everybody's right!

Marilynbeth, happy anniversary in advance. My birthday and two of my kids' birthdays are in October, and so was my father's.

And it's been so hot down here for so long, I won't mind bidding farewell to summer for a few months!

brigidlily,
Boy, I'm totally with you on this!!!! I can't stand it when it stays the same for a long time, love change, love winter, rains, snow, winds, but most of all, I love Fall and Halloween. I just barely survive summer, counting the days til October. Two mornings ago I noticed that we'd rounded the corner and are heading into my time of year, cooler in morning,the light has changed and I start feeling wonderful. When we lived in Washington (state), I did get bothered by seasonal affective disorder which really surprised me since I love winter. I think now that what it is with me is that I have to have change. We (California) don't get the wonderful, very obvious Autumn that many others do and I miss that. We get Fall, it's subtle, but we do get it, it's just not enough so I usually find myself heading toward mountains this time of year. Here's to those of us who are heading into the best time of the year!
Sherry

Amen! And for those who don't like it -- just wait! You can't have spring without fall!

Since going into adulthood, fall has been bittersweet. When I was younger, fall meant new clothes, new supplies, catching up with old friends, meeting new people and though it was a time when everything around me changed, it was a good thing. I looked forward to the change of the season, the menu changing to soups and chili and homestyle meals, seeing the pumpkins, straw and scarecrows take over the scenery. It was time for football games, dances, leaving the windows open all day. I love the smell of fresh cut grass and the occasional fall fire...

Now that I am an adult, married with kids, fall means back to the hustle and bustle, back to fairly rigid schedules, running all over the city for sports, doctor appointments, birthdays, all the holiday hoopla, the end of hours spent outdoors, the end of sleeping in, the end of having nowhere to be. It means having to dig up a lot of my favorite plants and tell them goodbye and the end of blooms in most of the gardens.....

Although the end of something usually means the beginning of something else, it is still sort of bittersweet.

Badseed, It's so really hard to appreciate all of those hurries and activities when you're living them. You just keep movin' and sometimes there's no time to even think about it while the kids are growing. As we get older we have so many different stages of life, and looking back, those are good times you're having with all the hustle and bustle. Fall is a bittersweet, melancholy time for many reasons. "Although the end of something usually means the beginning of something else, it is still sort of bittersweet". You're right. It is part of the essence of Fall.
Sherry

Wind, driving rain, rumbling thunder, pounding seas,
falling leaves, walking through wet orange and red and
yellow leaves, sweatshirts, beef stew, hot chocolate,
gently drifting snowflakes, stillness, flash of red in the
snow covered pines - hello, cardinal, ahhhh.
Rest for your body and your soul.
Gardening catalogs, diagrams, warm slippers and
flannel shirts with pockets. Bread baking in the oven.

I think I'm gonna cry. Except for the flowers, I hate summer.

I love summer. I can relax and be at peace in summer. I like the fact that when I go out the door it's already warm and the sun's already up. I love the sound of the crickets/katydids/cicadas/whatever they are in the trees. I love the sound of rain on the roof. And I love the green! Green trees, green grass (well, on other people's lawns), green plants. And all the bright colorful flowers.

Fall used to have some excitement because it reminded me of the start of the new school year. New classes, new ideas, new shoes and clothes. But I haven't been in school for almost 20 years, so that part's gone.

One of the reasons I moved to Colorado, though, is because this area has all four seasons. And in order to get spring, you have to have winter. Winter kills a lot of molds and other allergens that set off my asthma. And a lot of my favorite blooms have to have that winter freeze in order to bloom.

So fall and winter are necessary. It's the Earth exhaling.

Nice way to put it, White Hydrangea.

I was camping in Colorado a few years ago. Started out in shorts and T-shirt, put on long-sleeved shirt, then put on sweat pants. Then jeans over the sweat pants. Then a jacket. Wound up sleeping in the bed of my truck, fully clothed, sleeping bag zipped up tight, dog in sleeping bag with me. This was in July. So at least at that time, in that particlular place, I got all four seasons in 24 hours!

We haven't had a good (really bad) killing winter here in a few years. The bugs are awful, the diseases are awful and the seasons just aren't what they used to be.

I do truly appreciate every season, the beauty of each and the smells and sights they have to offer. I just appreciate summer a lot more. :)

hi to everyone.i am going to put my two cents worth in. hope no one minds. we have had 90 to 98 degree temps here for days and days.i will sure be glad for fall at least for cooler temps.

It was 104 yesterday, will be hotter than that today,
and tomorrow is expected to be worse than today.

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful,
Long as I've no place to go,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

Maybe you two should move to Ohio. :) We do get weather that hot but not for long. We also have four seasons and even get snow in the winter. Most years the snow is only a nuisance for a few days out of the whole winter.

I have seasonal affective disorder, and I still love fall - it has always been my favorite season. The farming slows down, we have time to go to the woods and cut the wood for the winter, the cows are still out days but we know there's lots of feed for them in the barn when the time comes. My gardens are full of native goldenrods and asters, the leaves turn, the weather cools and there is plenty of time to sit and enjoy what the summer hath wrought.

I don't really get hit with the blues until February, when the sun has started to come back, so it doesn't last very long, March is the longest month in the year, but I get through it. We often get snow from early November and into April, with an occasional bout of it in May, but by then, you know it's not going to last long.

Summer is just one long run to get crops in the ground and then off the field and into the barn. There is no such thing as summer vacation for us. I love it when Stan comes in and says he can't stuff one more bale of hay in the barn. Then we can relax a little and do some projects around the house and yard. Late August through October, even with the tempering of nostalgia, are my favorite months.

Badseed, can I stay with you while I look for a house? I'll work in the garden for you! ;)

I've been to Ohio, and I think it's a very pretty part of the country. I wouldn't mind retiring up there. I'm about to go visit my mother in Missouri, and one of the things I like best about going up there is the way it smells. I guess pretty much anything would smell better than the refineries and paper mills down here, of course. The gardening would be different!

I'm driving. I was debating flying, but with the new restrictions level, forget it.

Are you any good at pulling weeds or edging beds? I neeeeeeeed help. Heck, I'd settle for a good babysitter so I can do the work. LOL Hey, I even have an extra house at the moment. :) I guess it depends if you want to live in suburbia or a rural area.

Kathleen, about that time of the year I start planning which seeds to start and what I want to order. It doesn't do much to change the amount of sunlight in a day or take away the cool weather but it occupies the mind some and gives you something to look forward to.

That's when I plant myself under the plant lights, and read seed catalogs.

Close enough. :)

I can hardly believe summer is winding down and autumn is about to begin either. (I was shocked when the neighbors said their kids were going back to school next week! That doesn't seem right! So soon!)

I am not especially fond of the 'change of seasons' -- although like Badseed says, it's not so drastic here in Ohio--but it still happens. Our family was just talking about it the other day--here in Cincinnati it's about right, although the cloudy sky can seem dreary and it's a big reason why we painted the interior of this house bright colors.

I remember when we lived in Wisconsin many years ago, though, the 'change of seasons' was really drastic --the (too short) summer didn't 'start' until the 4th of July and winter was so looooong. And snow on Mother's Day there just about did me in.

Then we moved to CA and for 37 years we never once went to the mountains in winter to 'experience' snow with our children. No thanks! There were people who went up to the mountains and shoveled snow into their pick-ups and brought it back down to Los Angeles for parties, though, and we did take our children to those. That's about all I could endure of the white stuff!

But thank goodness for air conditioning and central heat. It does make the 'seasons' quite liveable--especially now that 'hot fashes' are an issue, too!

But I'm not ready to quit gardening for this year--I'm looking for perennials for my September and October garden--something to go with my reblooming purple iris! Any ideas?!

My kitchen window faces to the northwest. I have a prism stuck on the window. In the spring when the sun is in a certaiin position it casts rainbows all over our kitchen. Just noticed on Wed. there was a rainbow on the fridge. As the days grow shorter there will be more rainbows. My husband took a pix of me holding a rainbow in my hand. I start getting "blue" in the late summer and it doesn't let up until the first balmy days of spring and I see the willow trees showing red down in the bottom land of the Hatchie River here in TN.

Badseed: Now is the time to help your kids make memories of the fall. Just as you remember your early years, they too will remember theirs. The only thing I really liked about the fall growing up in Jacksonville, FL was that no'easterns would start blowing and pecans would be on the ground from the 2 pecan trees by a little local grocery store. I would be out there with an unbrella picking up pecans which my step-father would shell while he watched TV at night and my grandmother would use in pecan cakes, cookies and her homemade fruitcake with blackberry wine poured on them. My hubby makes fruitcakes from her receipe about 6 wks. before Christmas and once a wk. for 3 wks. he pours a half cup of blackberry wine on each one. They are given as gifts and never last until Feb. This yr. he will be making fruitcakes for our grown children and their spouses and my dau.-in-laws mother and father. Didn't tell them until last yr. why the fruitcakes are so good. Finally told the secret.

One yr. when I was about 10 or 11, I received a pair of skates for Christmas. That yr. it was down in the 30's on Chrstimas Day and bright and clear. I was out skating and one of the other kids got a pogo stick. I thought that was the neatest thing. She had wanted a pair of skates. So we traded. Our mothers made us untrade. I still want a pogo stick. Since I am 64 I doubt my hubby would let me have one. Have a great autumn. Liz

Someone far wiser than myself has said:

Every season seems best when it comes.

I must admit I'm partial to both Spring and Fall.

tabasco, what about a garlic? Or if you like the brilliant color combination, marigolds would be beautiful, and would help the soil as well, fighting nematodes. I love purple with orangey yellows myself. (Funny -- my rose garden is pretty much pink...)

my mom hated to hear the katydids because she said winter was not far behind.

But I, too, love the winter and fall and early spring and we up in NE Ohio have not had a killing winter for several years... we need it! It feels weird not to have snow.

I put a snow thrower on layaway for my DH's birthday - hopefully that will bring the snow.
:)

Much love to all..... hang in there those with summer loving SAD. I'm with Mahnot - I am not good in the heat but love the 3 cool seasons.

Janiejoy, I think we've had three "killing winters" since 1952. But never a summer shorter than six months. That's what gets to me -- the length of time it's hot hot hot. It hasn't gotten cold enough to kill the mosquitos and fleas in a decade anyway.

Autumn's my favorite. Why do I live here?

Because Texans are some of the loveliest and most
hospitable and helpful people God ever made.
Witness all the people they took in after the last
hurricane - more taken in than anywhere else.

I HATE fall and winter-I luv it HOT HOT HOT! spring and summer girl here!
why did the stork drop me in Michigan instead of the BAHAMAZ! whaaaaaan

you want some cheese with that, notmartha? ;p

Hey, notmartha - It's 105 F by me today, gonna be
106 F tomorrow, and maybe worse on Friday.
Of course, that's not a big change in the weather -
it's been over 102 for the past week, and over 100
for quite a long time. You'd probably love it.

Wanna trade? Pleeezzzz.....

Notmartha - As I get older, I too, like it hot. It does not bother me much unless the humidity is really high. Now my DH sweats and swears. I was born and raised in FL. and never lived in a completely A/C house until Oct. 1978. This was after I married my sweetie on 9/23/78 and we moved into Navy housing in Milton, FL. (from Jacksonville, FL). When we transferred to Point Magoo Naval Station, Oxnard, CA the housing was so near the ocean that we had a great heater and no A/C. Didn't need it. But REALLY, REALLY needed the heater at night except for about 2 months. That wind off the Pacific was wicked.

I love season changes.... My favorite season, tho, is spring.. the awakening of all that was sleeping.... the fresh green colors and flowers.. ah! so nice...
Love summer, but by August, im feeling 'fall' coming on.. longer shadows, shorter days.. By Sept, im ready for the closing of summer.. to put all to sleep, and get out the robe and fuzzy slippers for the colder temps. I really hate the darkest part of winter.. Dec, Jan and Feb are the hardest months for me.. too short of days, not enough sun. Altho if there is snow, thats the only good thing.
Im ready for the fall, mentally... the shorter days of that season allow me time to slow down and relax for a time. At this time of yr, im tired...