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#185 - Fall is here
September 20, 2001 @ 8:08 am

I love Fall. Seattle has been plunged into it over the past week or so. Cold mornings, gray days, chilly nights. It was pretty warm at the Fair this last weekend, but once darkness came, it got cooler and cooler. At first it was your typical summer night, that perfect temperature to cool you off after the hot of the day, when you actually feel comfortable in your shorts and t-shirt, instead of wishing you could peel those off too. But then, as we walked to the car around 10pm, it started getting chilly. There was condensation on our car. We turned on the heater for the first time in months.

We sleep with a fan, and the window open as long as possible towards winter. This morning was the first morning where it was chilly outside of bed. You know what that's like, the covers all toasty, comforting you like a second skin. Feeling like a litter of puppies all rolled on top of each other for warmth. All you want to do is luxuriate in the feeling of warmth against your skin, the softness of your pillow, the way you sink into the bed, in lovely contrast to the chill on your face. Mmmmmm... quite a fight to get up this morning.

I love the smell of Fall in the air. Sweetie said the other day, "Now that smells like Fall." He was referring to someone's fireplace. But that's not the smell of Fall. Fall is the smell the air gets when it's chilly out, but not freezing. Like you can smell the leaves turning, the animals frantically getting ready for winter. That's what Fall smells like. Every year around this time, I have this huge desire to fly up or down this hill near our old apartment, to see the leaves rolling across the lane. The road is lined with trees that turn color and lose their leaves right at the beginning of Fall. I don't want to miss them...

Trees don't turn colors in Hawaii. Hawaii doesn't really have seasons. Supposedly there's a "rainy season" like all other tropical places, but I don't know when that is. It rains almost every day there. It does get cooler at night and in the morning during late Fall and Winter. Sometimes down to the 50s. But it still always got back up to near 80 later in the day, so no one ever wore sweaters in Hawaii. You couldn't find them in the stores. It supposedly snowed once in Waimea one year in the 50s or something. Snow that melted before it hit the ground. But there are mountains tall enough to get snow in Winter. They even claim you can ski there. I've heard it's not very impressive skiing.

So I'm glad to be here for Fall. My favorite time of year, where you can smell the leaves turning, taste it on the back of your tongue even. There are alot of pine trees here - we are called the Evergreen State, y'know. But we have enough other trees to make it look pretty if you turn down the right road. I can't wait to drive up that hill and make the leaves fly from the wind of my car. I think I'll use the trip as an excuse to go to the costume store to check out Halloween costumes.

Halloween is the 2nd best thing about Fall. Kids dressed up as ghouls and witches. Jack o' Lanterns. Black cats. Bat motiffs. Adults acting like kids. Dressing goth and no one stares at you funny.

I love Fall.

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