As if on cue, North Carolina greeted the first day of September with a nip in the air, a clear blue sky, a slight angle on the sunlight and a few yellowing leaves vacating their seasonal homes. It is exactly as I remember it.

There are very very few people, places, concepts and/or things I love as much as I love Fall. I mean that. I don’t love chocolate as much as I love Fall, I don’t love members of my family as much as I love Fall, I don’t love puppies or kittens or any animal as much as I love Fall. And Fall just seems to make everything better. A roadtrip is suddenly a magical adventure full of colors and smells, a kayak trip is now a leisurely trip through an electric canvas… it’s the one time of year I become pathetic and incessantly romanticized about everything. Hell, I even named my cat Benjamin October. And this year I finally get to enjoy it to its fullest as I’m back in a town that has lush, leafy foliage! Hooray!

Anyway, I was sitting around in anticipation of the upcoming seasonal change and realized I was just compiling a list of things that I love. So, in the spirit of the global shifting energy (although you Aussie readers are going into a different type of pretty. Except the ones in Melbourne; you guys get every season every day.) I thought I’d revert back to childhood mode and do one of those cheesy elementary school poems where you write “[Noun] Is…” and then list everything the topic conjures for you. It’s kinda fun, actually.
So herewego.

Fall is…

~ Clear, freezing, moonlit nights so bright you can see your shadow.
~ Football games and marching bands.
~ Ignoring the caloric value of caramel apples and cotton candy
~ Indulging in a little Americana at the livestock, tractor pull, agriculture, and demolition derby demonstrations at the local fair.
~ Obligatory leaps into giant piles of leaves.
~ Wearing worn out plaid flannel shirts as jackets
(without intending a Grunge era tribute.)
~ Scarecrows stuffed with newspaper sitting on front doorsteps.
~ The orange evening sun cutting across fields of late-season harvest crops and bales of hay.
~ Pumpkin, cinnamon and apple spice-flavored everything.
~ Camping trips that require long-johns, clean socks, and knit caps (what Southerners call “toboggans” for no known reason) before sliding into sleeping bags.
(Things I love about camping trips could take up another whole post but I do adore fire-toasted Brown Bears - cinnamon toast roasted on a stick- and hot cocoa in the morning like nothing else.)
~ Honor-system pumpkin patch visits and the slimy, wet bottoms of chosen pumpkins.
~ Hearing ‘Thriller’ on the radio for two weeks at the end of October.
(Although this one kind of doesn’t apply this year.)
~ Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
~ Trampling lawns and avoiding unexpected terrorization while trick-or-treating.
(I went trick-or-treating well into high school without an ounce of shame. I cannot wait to take my daughter.)
~ Canned food drives.
~ Malcolm Blue Farm
~ Om by GAP
(The only thing by GAP I have and will wear. It was discontinued 10 years ago so I ordered a bunch on eBay. Love it.)
~ Eating Halloween candy past Thanksgiving.
~ Being brunette is trendy again.
~ Buying fresh new pencils, markers and notebooks for school and spending entirely too much time organizing them.
(I’m a giant nerd and continue to do this as recently as yesterday.)
~The return of sweaters and cute hats.
~ Horror movie marathons and swearing I won’t watch any of them.
(I always indulge in the classics, though.)
~ Volleyball season.
~ Anticipating new holiday season movies.
~ “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
~ Big, sprawling outdoor flea markets.
(My personal favorite is still the one in Athens, Ga.)
~ Dusters.
~ Youth soccer season
~ Visiting local graveyards.
(Not even on Halloween, they’re always creepier in autumn.)
~ The smell of campfires.
~ Snuggling and kissing under a blanket with someone special at bonfires, sporting events, or on the back porch.
~ Elementary school fund-raising Fall Festivals.
~ Crazy, house-wrecking college Halloween parties.
~ Rifling through old clothes to figure out what you still want and/or can still fit into.
~ Bluegrass and folk art festivals.
~ Girls dressed as skanks on Halloween.
(Say what you will about cheesy textbook slutty costumes, it’s the one time of year you’re allowed to let your inner freak fly. I’m all in favor of that.)
~ “30 Rock” is BAAAAACK!
~ Deeply inhaling the aroma of changing foliage while driving through the Appalachians.
(That one might be my favorite, actually.)