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Today is the Autumnal Equinox--the first day of fall--and I have been so busy in discussions of pornography and Miriel's fate (what a mix!) that I haven't even had time to say:
Autumn makes me sad. It is a beautiful season but also a sad season, a reminder of transcience, that the most lovely times often precede the winter.
Winters in Maryland are wicked. Our neighbors to the north make fun of our paranoia about snow--indeed, I am Bal'more born and raised, and I make relentless fun of the local news because, if there is an inch of snow on the ground, it is the "Big Story"--but what people fail to understand is that Marylanders lack the ability to drive in any form of precipitation, especially snow. So it is less a fear of the weather itself than of the eejits who don't belong out in it.
In my days in the restaurant, we knew that if we got a big storm, two groups of people would risk coming out for a cheeseburger: really old people and mothers with infants.
And it gets cold. I know that some of you deal with temperatures a lot worse than what we have, but anything less than 50 degrees F makes me miserable. (And some months, we regularly endure highs in the low 20s.)
Maryland: the state of extremes.
So autumn always makes me think of winter and the dread that comes with it, of knowing that a storm is coming but never arrives by the time you have to leave for work. Of requiring an hour to make the twenty-minute commute home.
But there are also things to love about autumn. In Maryland, the humidity leaves. This summer, we regularly had temperatures in the mid-100s with near 100% humidity: Going outside was like being wrapped in a scalding-hot, wet blanket. Now, the temperature still lingers in the high-80s/low-90s, but it is beautiful weather, with little or no humidity.
Then comes Halloween.
For years, I listed Christmas as my favorite holiday because it just seems like I should like Christmas best: the spirit of giving, of goodwill, and whathaveyou. But then, two years ago, I finally admitted it--I like Halloween best.
I went trick-or-treating up until my freshman year of college. I would still go now, if I thought I could get away with it.
Costumes are fun, candy is fun (sometimes, I make my own painted Halloween candy, but not this year), and the activities are fun. Bobby and I usually visit at least one stupid haunted house/hayride. They are hokey and not at all scary anymore, but they are still fun. Bobby likes to try to scare the characters by yelling at them as they run by. Plus, there is just something nice about being out in a starry, fall night, cuddled with my husband in a cart full of hay. Get rid of some of the people and we could really have some fun!
On Halloween night, since we can't trick or treat anymore, we rent two or three of the stupidest classic horror movies we can find and eat evil!snacks and make fun of the bad acting, stupid plots, and cheap ploys at suspense.
I love horror movies. What a pure visceral rush--and entirely harmless! And what a good way to learn how not to plot, characterize, etc.
In autumn, we make our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin farm. We will each pick out a pumpkin. Bobby always carves his but I usually can't bear to do it. We will roast the pumpkin seeds with lots of salt and--like a parrot--I will eat them while watching movies at night. We also buy those adorable and entirely useless gourds, and they end up scattered around our endtables. (I try to arrange them pleasingly, but I am horrible at such things, and so "scattered" is a much better word for the final arrangement.)
We also buy apples and try all the odd varieties that you can't find at the grocery store. And then, there is homemade apple cider, which we buy by the gallon and heat up at night with just a touch of cinnamon to make it perfect.
So I mourn the summer and dread the winter--but somewhere in there, I will have to find time to enjoy the autumn.
Autumn makes me sad. It is a beautiful season but also a sad season, a reminder of transcience, that the most lovely times often precede the winter.
Winters in Maryland are wicked. Our neighbors to the north make fun of our paranoia about snow--indeed, I am Bal'more born and raised, and I make relentless fun of the local news because, if there is an inch of snow on the ground, it is the "Big Story"--but what people fail to understand is that Marylanders lack the ability to drive in any form of precipitation, especially snow. So it is less a fear of the weather itself than of the eejits who don't belong out in it.
In my days in the restaurant, we knew that if we got a big storm, two groups of people would risk coming out for a cheeseburger: really old people and mothers with infants.
And it gets cold. I know that some of you deal with temperatures a lot worse than what we have, but anything less than 50 degrees F makes me miserable. (And some months, we regularly endure highs in the low 20s.)
Maryland: the state of extremes.
So autumn always makes me think of winter and the dread that comes with it, of knowing that a storm is coming but never arrives by the time you have to leave for work. Of requiring an hour to make the twenty-minute commute home.
But there are also things to love about autumn. In Maryland, the humidity leaves. This summer, we regularly had temperatures in the mid-100s with near 100% humidity: Going outside was like being wrapped in a scalding-hot, wet blanket. Now, the temperature still lingers in the high-80s/low-90s, but it is beautiful weather, with little or no humidity.
Then comes Halloween.
For years, I listed Christmas as my favorite holiday because it just seems like I should like Christmas best: the spirit of giving, of goodwill, and whathaveyou. But then, two years ago, I finally admitted it--I like Halloween best.
I went trick-or-treating up until my freshman year of college. I would still go now, if I thought I could get away with it.
Costumes are fun, candy is fun (sometimes, I make my own painted Halloween candy, but not this year), and the activities are fun. Bobby and I usually visit at least one stupid haunted house/hayride. They are hokey and not at all scary anymore, but they are still fun. Bobby likes to try to scare the characters by yelling at them as they run by. Plus, there is just something nice about being out in a starry, fall night, cuddled with my husband in a cart full of hay. Get rid of some of the people and we could really have some fun!
On Halloween night, since we can't trick or treat anymore, we rent two or three of the stupidest classic horror movies we can find and eat evil!snacks and make fun of the bad acting, stupid plots, and cheap ploys at suspense.
I love horror movies. What a pure visceral rush--and entirely harmless! And what a good way to learn how not to plot, characterize, etc.
In autumn, we make our annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin farm. We will each pick out a pumpkin. Bobby always carves his but I usually can't bear to do it. We will roast the pumpkin seeds with lots of salt and--like a parrot--I will eat them while watching movies at night. We also buy those adorable and entirely useless gourds, and they end up scattered around our endtables. (I try to arrange them pleasingly, but I am horrible at such things, and so "scattered" is a much better word for the final arrangement.)
We also buy apples and try all the odd varieties that you can't find at the grocery store. And then, there is homemade apple cider, which we buy by the gallon and heat up at night with just a touch of cinnamon to make it perfect.
So I mourn the summer and dread the winter--but somewhere in there, I will have to find time to enjoy the autumn.
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