Soon I'll be leaving for a small vacation and won't make another post for about a week. Because of that I wanted to leave a long post about my favorite time of year. Nothing academic, just how the Fall has always been for me. It's a special time of year.
Fall officially begins on September 23rd and runs until the Winter Solstice on December 21st. At least for Northern Hemisphere. This season has held a special reverence to me almost as long as I can remember. I'm not totally certain why this is. I did enjoy school as a youngster. Maybe the anticipation of the new school year. New people, new books, new rooms. The unique looks of the season has something to do with it. Even in the deep south the scenery would change a little bit, some more reds, browns and oranges in the treeline. Between the shifting weather and new school year, Fall was the herald of change. A twilight between Summer and Winter. That first smell of cooling Fall air added electricity to the atmosphere and things just felt different.
I think a person's enjoyment of Fall comes down to one thing, and it's arguably the most important thing in the season. Halloween of course! The signature Autumn festival in my eyes. Having two brothers, Halloween was a big deal in my house. Our parents were also very cool about it all. Scary movies, decorations, and all night trick or treating were encouraged. That's the number one reason for the season. I keep an ever growing horror collection, visit haunted houses when they open up for the season, and generally celebrate in any way I can. For me it isn't just a one day celebration, Halloween is a whole damn season. I do all the things I used to as a kid. With total glee, I browse the costume adds that show up in the mail and spend hours walking the aisles of Halloween stores. It's also a promise that there is a bucket of candy hanging around at all times even if I barely do eat the stuff these days. Halloween has seriously come a long way from when I was small(er). You can walk into a Halloween store these days and come back out with motion triggered animatronics, fog machines, strobe lights, gallons of blood, and high quality masks to terrify your guests. I'd go so far as to say that Halloween is only holiday that gets better the more it's commercialized. Not to say there isn't a huge amount of satisfaction in hand making a costume or building a scarecrow to loom from the bushes, maybe even rock gently in a chair on the porch.
Another special thing is how our tastes change when Fall rolls around. You won't be able to go into a store without seeing cider, a plethora of cinnamon spiced treats, seasonal candies and of course, the superstar of the show, pumpkin. Pumpkin is like glitter tossed into a ceiling fan, it will find it's way into everything and you'll keep coming across it for months. I have to admit, it took me many years to figure out why anyone would eat the stuff, let alone drink it. Now though, the understanding is there and it is impossible to imagine a year without that pumpkin spiced goodness.
Wherever you live, another thing is the change in atmosphere. There air is a little more cool. It's invigorating here in the south when you go outside at night and don't instantly feel sticky. If you're lucky you can even sneak a light jacket out at times. I feel that it's a preview of much needed relief from the harsh Summer that really puts a spring back in our steps. About that time as well, networks start pumping out their Halloween specials. All your favorite shows get spooky. Of course a yearly favorite is The Simpson's Tree House of Horror specials, these actually managed to cover being funny, scary and at times, disturbing. The other great television tradition for me is AMC's Monsterfest! At one point it was 31 days of wall to wall horror, but in recent years was cut back to around two or three weeks. It's still great even after the change, because very few channels change their programming like that for October. Monsterfest and Monstervision are the serious contributors to my love of horror films and specifically the slasher genre.
Maybe one of the biggest fixtures of Fall is the county fair, festival or what have you. The Fall festivals held at schools in my area were such a welcome departure from the days and days of busy work we were subjected to. It was a miniature, kid oriented carnival with no rides but plenty of games and snacks. A county fair though is a different beast. For teens it was more of a social occasion than festive (it's a small town). As long as I can remember the fair was a big deal, rides, questionable food, rigged games and fun houses. There were even live bands. I have memories of just sitting on the front porch listening to music drift over the trees from the fairground. It was much more quiet at night back then and we lived just a few miles from the fairground back then.
There's just so much to talk about and I could really go on forever, but I do actually have to sleep for my trip tomorrow. So I'm going to go ahead and slither into bed. Hopefully some of you share my nostalgia of Fall and everything that goes with. Until I get back for my next review, don't be afraid to be a little scary.
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