What We Like About Fall

LUCY BURDETTE: Could those be the most amazing chocolates you've ever seen?? Fall-themed of course, and they come from cows on Thorncrest Farm in Goshen CT--you can actually go and meet the cows who made your milk that made your chocolate. They are called Milk House Chocolates, expensive but worth it for a special special occasion. 

Anyway, that photo in my inbox got me thinking about fall. I know there will be a few of you  who feel I have no business admiring fall when I skip the worst of winter by absconding to Key West. However, I remember loving fall even in my winter days. And here are a few of the things I love:

1. The beautiful color changes in the leaves (which is not to say I don't love those baby greens of Spring)
2. Arrangements of pumpkins and chrysanthemums and scarecrows
3. Cooler temperatures so the dog and I can take longer walks
4. Shorter days (no, I mean it. I like the feeling of being tucked in by the darkness after supper, as if not too much more is expected of me that day.)
5. The women's basketball season is coming!

How about you Reds, are you fans of Fall?

HANK PHILLPPI RYAN:  Sweaters. Boots. Soup.  I have to say, and it's not in the nature of a complaint, just a reality, my book deadline is now LOOMING and so is the launch, and there is very little that's more intense and stressful. (I'll be in Phoenix, and Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh and Denver and all over Florida..please please come see me! No pressure, it;s just my career. And I will say no more. :-) )  

We close the swimming pool, and I try to balance things--I am  so aware of time going by. I know in five months, the ducks will be back. And that's great!  But the time will have gone by, we're all changing and fall to me is the time that is the most poignantly apparent.
But, on the happy side, I get to wear black tights again.

RHYS BOWEN: Not a great fan myself. Like Hank I am growing more aware of the passing of the seasons and the ticking of the clocks and the looming of old age. Depressing, right? I am one of those people who is highly sensitive to light. If I awake to a bright sunny day and blue skies then all is right with the world. So far in California we haven't had a hint of fall yet. It was over 90 at the weekend. I did an event with Cara Black and afterward we sat outside at a restaurant until late at night, enjoying the balmy evening air.

So the moment the rains hit California I become swallow-like and retreat to our condo in Arizona where blue skies are guaranteed all year. But things that I like? I do like sitting by a roaring fire, reading or knitting. I like the way the slanted sunlight paints the trees and I like the spectacular sunsets. And the smell of wood-smoke in the air. AND when the temperature drops a tad I get to wear my new outfit that daughter Jane bought me for my birthday. Winter white turtleneck sweater and cool fur vest.  So not all bad after all.

Girl on a train (Hallie!)

HALLIE EPHRON: Yesterday we took the train from NY back to Boston at twilight. It travels along the ocean and the color of those vast stretches of marsh grass--red and orange and green--made me wish I could paint. On the other hand, we're back home and our brand new heating system isn't working and it was 50 degrees this morning.
 
I do love sweaters and warm socks and switching to our winter quilt and snuggling under it. Soups (just cut out a recipe for carrot apple sweet potato soup with curry!) What I hate is what comes next. Winter, Feh.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, I adore fall. I've always said it was my favorite season--at least until I'm really sick of winter blahs and can't wait for the first signs of spring... I love the crisp air and being able to do ANYTHING outside without melting into a sweaty mess, and I especially love taking walks with the dogs. I love soups and stews and sweaters and boots and getting out the down comforter, and most of all, the smell of wood smoke in the air and curling up in front of a fire with a good book or a movie. 

LUCY: And ps, if I feel I need a dose of winter, I can always reread Julia’s last book, THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS, or Ragnar Jonasson’s SNOW BLIND—coldest book I’ve ever read. Red friends, how do you feel about fall?