Forcing Fall

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This weekend was the autumnal equinox, but for a lot of the country, it doesn’t exactly feel like fall, does it? Which is a problem, because if you’re a four-season kind of person, by now summer has worn out its welcome. The magazines are full of fall fashion, school’s been in for the better part of a month - even the publishing industry people are back at their desks! We’re ready for a change, but sometimes Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.

So what do you do to force fall? (I’m using the gardening metaphor, in case anyone has visions of me assaulting autumn Rambo-style.) The easiest switch up is clothing. This works for me because by summer wardrobe is a rainbow of brights. I’m still wearing my cropped pants and light tops, but now I’m matching the pink pedal pushers with a brown T-shirt, or pairing the aqua sleeveless shirt with full-length black pants.

I also start to change my house’s wardrobe, as it were. Summer’s white sofa pillows get dark covers, and I exchange my kitchen settee’s white slipcover for a beige and blue floral pattern. (I tried keeping the white on one winter because it looks so good with the rest of the room, but the first time a slush-pawed Shih Tzu jumped up there I knew it was a losing cause.)

How about you, Reds? Do you start cooking heartier autumnal dinners, or bring in the beautiful flowers of fall? What are your tricks for bringing the season in, even when it won’t cooperate?

HALLIE EPHRON: Our summer was so hot and humid that this dryer, sunnier weather is a version of “fall” that needs no forcing. Trees are just starting to turn –  burnt orange and red leaves against lime green ones. I’ve taken the fans out of the windows because it cools off at night to sleep with windows open. I’m still eating summer salads for dinner but I did make an apple pie with local apples–a sure sign of fall.

JENN McKINLAY: We finally dropped below 100 degrees here in AZ after 112 straight days of the daily temps being over 100. I am presently wearing a beanie and a scarf! Okay, not really, but it was a blissful 69 when I walked the dogs this morning and I debated wearing a light hoodie. I’m giddy, I tell ya! As far as I’m concerned, autumn is HERE. Pass me a pumpkin spice latte and a caramel apple, please. 

RHYS BOWEN: Count me as one who will not be forcing fall. I dread the thought of dark evenings and short days. I like to wake early to the sun on the hillside opposite and sit out on my balcony after dinner watching lights come on in the valley. This week it was chilly in the morning and I had to find (gulp) a long sleeved T-shirt. Pumpkin spice will never pass my lips but I would agree to a caramel apple. And Julia, I am in awe of someone who changes their decor with the seasons… different pillow covers? The most I can do is put up decorations at Christmas and maybe a summery table cloth.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ah, nope, fall comes as it wants to, but yes, I change, (eventually), the white canvas slip covers on the couch for loden suede, and I change the throw pillow covers, too.  I love to change the dinner plates, too, from the white ones bordered by yellow and orange fruits and flowers to the white ones bordered by apples and plums. 

But…NOT YET!

I did switch to hot lattes from iced, I have to say. And agreed, Rhys, pumpkin spice will never pass these lips, either. And no apple anything yet! I am still on watermelon.

 

LUCY BURDETTE: This September weather has been so glorious that I am all in! But the only thing I’ll change in the house is the bedspread, from a bright yellow etc quilt to a blue flannel with fish. But, like Hank, not yet! I am cooking more soup and fall-ish foods though. And I did roast a turkey for our supper club Saturday. Do you know how hard it is to find a turkey or turkey breast in September??

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We had “false fall” here a couple of weeks ago, but then it went back to “ugh.” So no wardrobe changes for me, and still summer pillow covers in the living room and tropical flowers on the bedroom duvet cover. Soon, though, our autumn asters will be blooming, then the first of October the pumpkins go on the front porch and the fall pillow covers go on the sofa. I like to change the plates on our big dining room dresser, too, if I get around to it! 

But the shorter days make me want to cook fall things like soups and casseroles, so last week I made a huge pot of minestrone. Yum!

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? How are you forcing (or faking) fall?