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 might be a party pooper and toss a humid blanket on the season,  85 degree temperatures and 90% humidity. Still, this is my absolute favorite time of year, and I pine for it all year long.

 

This year, fall (the autumnal equinox) officially arrived on September 22, 2012, at exactly 10:49AM 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!

TEXAS MAGIC, the second book in my Celebrations, Inc. mini-series is a fun fall read. Hero Drew Montgomery is a newspaper man with an unshakeable conviction that people aren’t really living unless they go after what they want in life. If not, then what’s the point? This notion is an epiphany for heroine, Caroline Coopersmith. Even though Caroline seems to have it all, she is living the life that her father has sculpted for her as his heir apparent to the family business. It’s not what Caroline wants, but she feels beholden to family tradition.  It’s only when Drew helps her realize that she has spent way too many years doing what’s expected of her, not what she wants that she is able to fall in love and live her dream.

 

I hope you’ll read Drew and Caroline’s story and let me know what you think.  Please be sure to look for the final book in this series, TEXAS CHRISTMAS. It’s available November 1, but I’m going to give away a free advance copy of TEXAS CHRISTMAS to one person who answers the question: What’s your favorite season and why?