fall, glorious fall

Autumn is my favorite season. I can't say that it has always been my favorite season (summer was number 1 when I was little), but it was always first or second on the list. I think it became my favorite season once I started college. Something about football games, the beautiful quad at school, the entrance to UW off 45th St; it was always like a new beginning, a fresh start on a new year even though a new year technically didn't begin for a few more months. Fall in Seattle was truly glorious. I miss it. Crisp mornings and evenings, warm sunshine, bright leaves falling from the trees, the smell of wood burning in fireplaces. It was a great time to walk around Greenlake (or run, as I usually did), to go hiking in the Cascades, to get tickets to a Husky game, or watch away games on TV while eating nachos and drinking a good Seattle microbrew.

Fall here in Arizona is a little different. It means cooler temperatures (it hasn't gotten warmer than 98 this month, I don't think, with average temps in the lower 90s), the end of pool season, Oktoberfest on Mt Lemmon, Wildcat football games (which really only interest me if they are playing the Huskies, like they are this weekend), switching from A/C to swamp cooler in the house, being able to walk past 8am in the mornings without dying of heat exhaustion, Saturday or Sunday afternoons spent at Buffalo Wild Wings watching football, picking pomegranites from our tree, and so much more. If we had time, and perhaps we will this year, we could go to Greer where my sister and her husband got married amongst brilliant yellow aspen trees a few years ago.


Autumn also means mosquito season, complete with west-nile scares, and the return to desert life. Everything dries out, including your skin and any fruit left lying around the house. It also means the weeds dry up so I can burn them! Fire. Hehe.


Perhaps best of all, fall means Pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. This is about the only time of year I go to Starbucks, besides at Christmas when they have peppermint mochas and eggnog lattes. I know I'm supposed to be a good Seattle girl, but there are coffees out there that are so much better than theirs. Torrefazione is our favorite. Mmmm. The best. 'Tis also the season for Pumpkin beer. It is so not a great time to be pregnant. Jessica and I also spend some time in the kitchen making squash soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies with orange frosting...you'd think we're pumpkin freaks, but really, we're not. Of course fall also brings the coming of Halloween (one of my favorite holidays) and Thanksgiving. And my birthday. It's truly a glorious season.

This little cup of heaven only cost me $3.25. Gulp.