Welcome, Autumn!

Hello there, autumn.  I'm so happy to see you again!

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably realize that I LOVE autumn.  It's a wonderful time of year where the weather starts to become more comfortable, the colors start to blaze, and my proclivity for horror is accepted more readily.

There are several activities that we undertake each fall which I relish, and anticipate for months:

• Driving up into the mountains to see the changing colors.
• Reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving with my children.
• Reading the stories in October Dreams edited by Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish, without my children.  (I'm squealing like a little girl inside right now as I just discovered that a follow-up anthology called October Dreams II is forthcoming from Cemetery Dance Publications!)
• Watching Disney's version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad DVD.
• Watching The Lady in White with my children (my husband takes a pass on this one).
• Watching Monster House and The Nightmare before Christmas as a family.
• Going to the local pumpkin patch which is pretty impressive with the Flatirons in the background, and picking out our pumpkins and caramel apples.
• Carving our Jack-O-Lanterns and getting messy together as a family, then roasting the seeds.
• Helping the kids get dressed up in their Halloween costumes.
• Having our parents and my brother over on Halloween for a seasonal dinner of squash soup and pepitas.
• Being allowed to watch horror movies for the whole month of October without any arguments (or questions about my sanity).

I love the smells in the air during this season.  I love the sounds of leaves crunching underfoot and wind rattling the dry leaves still in the trees.  I love the splendor and intensity of the colors that lasts for such a brief time.  I also enjoy that once you get into the fall season, it's socially acceptable to begin anticipating the holiday season.

I do kind of miss when my kids were little (and we still had cable) and they'd watch Nick, Jr. and we'd hear the Falling for Fall song.  It's funky and fun, plus it teaches preschoolers how to use the word "prevaricating" in a sentence, I mean, you gotta love that!