Autumn

I've never been a fan of "Favorite Questions."  What is your favorite book?  movie? food?  memory?  board game?  insert-right-here? What if you don't have one favorite?  If you're an equal opportunity-enjoyer?  Or you have a small list of favorites?  Not just one?  I, in case you cannot tell, am not a single-favorite-haver in most cases.  This applies to movies, tv, colors, gemstones, memories, and seasons.  I think the closest thing to a very favorite season I have is Winter. . . but I love them all and have favorite parts of each.  Being indecisive enough to feel that way, I have a little ritual.  At the beginning of every season, I like to think about what I love about that particular time of year.  It's a gratitude exercise that makes me feel more connected: connected to nature/the season, to everyone who has ever experienced these same joys, to my own inner person.  I promise way down deep inner me is a very positive person!  This gratitude exercise reminds me to slow down, something I don't do often enough.  And it makes me smile. Honestly, some days, thats reason enough to do (almost) anything!


While it's not officially Fall yet, the temperatures and books and sweaters tell my poor little heart otherwise. . . so here is what I love about Autumn.

*Scarves!*

They're so warm and cozy and instantly make me feel somehow more fashionable.  I mean, who looks bad in a scarf?!?

*The way the air smells.  When you're walking as briskly as you can towards your car/class/job/grocery store and you take a quick inhale.  That sweet, clear, frost-is-in-the-air smell, without the sharpness and sting of winter air.  It's more moist, more earthy.  

It instantly calms me and elevates my mood. . . don't you just want to take a deep breath of that beauty?

*Mornings.  Ok, so I'm definitely not a morning person.  I'm more like a mid-day person, really.  But there is something about Autumn mornings that make me feel very alive and yet soothed at the same time.  That morning light, softer than at any other time of year.  The way it filters through the changing leaves, so they almost glow.  It's stiller, more isolated, less electric than a summer morning.  You can almost hear the tress breathing, if you listen hard enough. . .

*Books.  This is sort of the opposite of mornings, because I am a book person all the way!  I love turning pages in the sun during the Summer, skimming chapters in a window during Spring, snuggling with a book under the blankets in Winter.  But the fall is the very best time for  books!  Even if they are not textbooks/mandatory I love to purchase books in the fall, so I can enjoy the feel and the familiarity of a new book.  The joy of inhaling that beautiful air and turning the page, knowing there is something fascinating waiting for me when I do.  Honestly, I can't often afford non-mandatory textbooks.  Thank goodness the library is the next best thing!  If I get everything done I need to this week, that is how I am rewarding myself this weekend. . . a quick trip to the Library.

*The Foliage.  This is one of the greatest joys of living in New England!