I took the photo above several weeks ago, when the scene struck me as indicative of summer’s end, fall’s arrival, even though we were not there yet. The pleasure boaters were still motoring leisurely through warm days, but the mornings begin to be marked more often by fog, which will soon settle in more densely, although it will be punctuated regularly by blustery rainstorms. Obviously, there’s a melancholy beauty to the change, and I had rather talked myself into a frisson of anticipation about the encroaching coolness.
Instead, we’ve had day after day of Sun icons lined up in the weather forecasts. Delightful days with blue skies, temps in the mid-twenties, and classrooms full of heat-sleepy students in flip-flops, shorts, and sundresses. Easy to tell where they would rather be!
So, yes, it’s been glorious. Most of us have our summer clothes ready to be packed away, but instead of closing the boxes, we’ve been raiding them, not quite matching the students’ flip-flops and shorts, but at least braving barer arms than usually get exposed in the classroom. Without air-conditioning, survival depends on lighter clothes and a good, strong deodorant!
But the night before last, I woke in the night to a ruckus outside: thumps from the woodpile; a bathroom ventilator’s loose parts being worked by the wind; twigs, leaves, and cones hitting the skylights.
And I woke in the morning to this decoration of the front deck.
A scattering of needles and cone sections, all ready for planting. As I write this, I’m wondering if I’m exposing an embarrassing ignorance — my botanist friends will have to let me know if these are, as I’ve always assumed, portions of fir cones, broken apart by weather and scattered on the wind to seed themselves. 
Whichever they are, they’re quite beautiful individually, especially in the morning light of early fall, and they’re clearly designed for travelling on the wind. And if that flight design weren’t enough, they also carry their own Superglue resin that means they stick ferociously to anything that comes near and move even further with that carrier’s help. Apparently, they ripen just in time to take full advantage of the fall winds, and their arrival has confirmed what that boat moving through the fog only augured several weeks ago.
Fall is here! Let the fireside evenings and the warm merino sweaters and the cozy cabled throws and the favourite red leather gloves and the oven-braised lamb shanks and the spicy tagines return to our lives as the days ahead shorten. Summer was such a lovely respite, but I’ve got a brand-new leopard-printed wool coat waiting impatiently in my closet. So ease me into it, Autumn. Let me have those last few days for my friend to finish painting his sailboat, but I’m ready. I know I’ll weary, eventually, of those grey, grey days, but for now, I’m ready . . .
And what about you, readers? Are you ready with me?
(apologies to my Australian/New Zealand readers, I’m so sorry you don’t get to look forward to months of rain and wind as I do!)
We want to see that coat, Mater!!
You're taunting me here. We have at least three more days of 85+F temperatures in this go-round, and I'm certain we'll have a few more bouts of heat before we finally settle into slightly cooler weather in late October.
I don't know what those pods are. We get something similar (though smaller and not as pretty) from our elm trees. They stick to everything and root everywhere, so I'm always pulling up elm seedlings from my roses and potted plants. Enjoy your sweater weather!!!
I am completely with you. Yours in the wait for rain…
Oh, I love fall weather. I've just changed my colors (today I wore black sandal/booties, gray pencil skirt, eggplant silk flapper top), but it is still annoyingly warm. How I'd love to move to your coast. Anybody need an Am. lit. prof. in your area? 😉
Today was the first time I got to wear my new wool coat. The day was cloudy and the temperature +10,12 (cooler in the mornings and evenings ). The fall so far has been really warm and sunny. I´m not at all happy when it gets colder. And I don´t like snow at all. It get´s so slippery too. More than once have I practically slid under my car ( when opening the door) and I have also fallen in front my horse when walking him on our yard.
Leopard printed wool, whoo-hoo! Please show us.
We host seven friends tomorrow evening and will serve Lyonnaise rice and onion soup, magret de canard, and the plum tart I just posted. Love the first few weeks when cooking shifts to a new season.
Unpacking some cashmere on Sunday.
sorry-sled, not slid ?
I'm ready, but it's taking awhile here. We always have one last spell of heat (Santa Anas) before the cool weather sets in. Our fall isn't really "fall." It's just the onset of about ten months of marine layer and temperatures in the 60s.
I love your photos. The light quality is really warm and wonderful.
I love the way you pay attention.
Yes, I am ready–I'm ready all year. We live in a Sunnydale-like town (not far from where many Buffy scenes were filmed), and I'm like Giles, constantly on the look out for some lovely rain or a chill in the air.
Autumn, now.
Pseu: Sorry for the taunting — I know you'd like some cooler days for variety's sake. Once our settle in, there will be no variety! Hence the taunting, perhaps. And I've double-checked, and these are from fir cones.
LPC: I won't be waiting long. . .
Miss C: What a scrumptiously brooding colour combo — perfect for fall!
Metscan: It's easier for me to like the cold, as we don't get quite as severe a version (altho' last winter was quite trying!) — I don't like the snow and slippery ice either! (and you're right with "slid" — not "sled")
Duchesse: That's a perfect early fall meal — yumm! I'll have to check out that plum tart at your site.
Enc: The quality of light probably shifts considerably where you are, with that onset of the marine cloud/fog — I love the way light shifts through the year, and then through each day. . .
PM: Paying attention to minutiae! Glad someone appreciates it. . . Sunnydale, Giles, you know you're talking my language!
I'm all for fall but it is still a little warm, and I am only slowly switching to fall wardrobe as much of my old wardrobe doesn't fit. Please let it get cool fast, my wools are waiting, are knocking at the closet doors.
I want to see that coat too. Let the North wind blow.
It's still fairly warm here during the day as well (but not above 20, or 70F), Mardel, although it's been getting closer and closer to frost at night.