I caught a whiff of fall in the air today, and it smelled delicious. Sometimes people laugh when I say I can smell the change of season, but I can. The air is lighter, crisper – with an indefinable note that is crazy good. Where I live, sometimes fall is elusive. It teases us with starts and stops. One day will be brisk 65 degrees, prompting us to throw open the windows and drag out the sweaters; then the next day, Mother Nature tosses a humid blanket on our revelry and the temperature shoots back up to 85. Still, it’s my absolute favorite time of year, and I pine for it all summer long.

 

Officially, fall (the autumnal equinox) arrived on September 22, 2008, at exactly 11:44:16 EDT. Wiki Answers has this to say about the change of seasons:

 

“The equinoxes and solstices mark the start of spring/autumn and summer/winter. The divisions are based on the rotation of the earth with respect to the angle of the earth. As the earth goes around the sun, picture it looking down on its orbit from above. Summer solstice is when the earth’s north pole is pointed most directly towards the sun (longest day) – warming the northern hemisphere. Winter solstice is when the earth’s south pole is most directly pointed toward the sun warming the southern hemisphere and leaving the north cold (shortest day). The equinoxes are the midway points between the solstices with the sun halfway between its north most and south most points, so we have equal day and night.”

 

That’s interesting, but all I know is that I love the cooler weather, the chance to be outside more and the return of Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

 

What’s your favorite season?