The Liminal Season

Autumn is a time of harvest and reaping the rewards of what you sown. My children are also done with school and yet, they both moved out this fall. It's like the first day of school, only bigger.

Caramel apples..mmmm!

fall is also my favorite season~! in waldorf education we celebrate michaelmas day as sort of a turning in for the year-- bringing the last little bits of summer warmth to carry into the winter with you! http://bitsandbobbin.blogspot.com/2011/09/michaelmas-festivities.html love your post!

Renewal. I always liked it better than relisting.

I love all the colors of fall. It's like Mother Earth putting on her last big show of plants before she rests for a season.

I love the Fall season. Each year I look forward to Halloween, brewing hot cider, making caramel apples and pumpkin pies.

Fall is such a short season you have to grab every minute and enjoy it. In the Midwest, it is ‘hunkering down” with all of its best rituals. It’s bringing in the last of the garden and getting out favorite sweaters and suede boots. It’s the chili recipe you haven’t used all summer. It’s warm drinks and rosy cheeked friends glad to be by your fireplace. It’s a blend of warm days and cool nights and wind blowing all those beautiful leaves around your feet. It’s squirrels digging in my planter to hide food for the winter. It’s the promise of a new school year and the end of that silly summer romance. It’s pumpkins and cider and apple pies and the smell of burning leaves. It’s country drives and the anticipation of families gathering to give thanks. It’s filled with the urgency to wrap things up and finish combined with the excitement of what’s next. It’s always my favorite time of year and because it’s such a short season I breathe in all that I can.

Fall is my favorite season of the year! I look forward to sweatshirt weather, cool crisp fresh air, the smell of fireplaces going, warm apple cider, pumpkin and apple picking, Halloween, and I feel like I get to snuggle up a whole bunch more with the family. It really does go by to quickly so I enjoy every minute of it!

I wish I loved fall...

I pull out the loaf pans, muffin tins & the stockpot & get back to creating the delicious comfort foods that define autumn for me.

comfort food. "putting' up food. crunching leaves. crisp apples, too many to know what to do with. deciding what you want to be involved with socially, what to sign up for. letting go of old books to the book sale. hunkering down.

Autumn is so bittersweet for me.... It's my favorite season...... crisp weather, sweaters, tight jeans, the smell of smoke, Halloween.... yet the impending doom of Winter!! Cut me!

I've always loved autumn but I've never looked at it like that before. I guess it's always there to remind you that change is just round the corner regardless of how unexpected it might be.

I love Fall. It's a magical time, with its colors and that feeling you can start from scratch... fall resolutions here I come!

I love the smell of fresh rain that hits during fall season. We had our first taste of this is CA last week. Fog has hit in the am, altho it is still in the 80's this whole week! Soon the hills will be green! Love fall and all the warm soups it brings.

Fall is my favorite. Two words... Pumpkin Spice.

There is something decidedly magical about this time of year, when you can start wearing capes again, bands start touring through southern Ontario, everything's shades of orange (and things that coordinate beautifully with orange) and the air just *feels* better than any other time of the year.

Fall is my favorite, too. In Alaska, it's a huge time of preparation to stock up the pantry and get ready to hunker down in the sub-zero weather...and as homeschoolers, it's a great time of anticipation as our new books and materials come in the mail (yay!). I just blogged last night about the termination dust slowly working its way down the mountains... www.baruchslullaby.blogspot.com Thanks for the fun post!

Fall in Louisiana brings to mind gumbo...may it be seafood, chicken and sausage, or whatever you bring home from the woods that day. Nothing warms the soul like walking into a house where a roux was made and gumbo has been simmering. Granted, gumbo season starts during late fall - it takes Louisiana a little longer to cool off than most of y'all are used to!

great little article, fall is also my favorite season... Its a beautiful time full of change... My favorite thing to do in fall is to go out and pick some pumpkins and make pie!

Love your Articles! Yes I too love fall - apples and football and crisp weather ..but I adore Winter and its "stillness"..

The fair!!

Fall is our favorite season around here. We love picking apples, raking leaves together and enjoying the beautiful scenery (maple leaf trees changing to red, yellow and orange...ahhh!)

I love fall, it means football, tailgating, crock pots, cozy sweaters, and pumpkin pie to me

Fall, to me, is going back to a more quiet state: good food, hot drinks, cozying up with a book in a warm and soft blanket, knitting... Every season has its memorable moments, but it's the changes that make them noticeable. Fall showcases the biggest and fastest changes. Enjoy the last bits of it!

LOVE fall...it's my favorite....especially this one as we welcome it with our own new little guy...also named Myles :)

Spicy apple cider with rum, gingerbread with cream cheese frosting and some more candied ginger on top, golden delicious sunlight, hot chocolate with marshmallows floating around, pumpkin pie and soup soup soup!

I love fall for as many reasons as you, some the same. I love the fresh crisp air, I love some of our family traditions (apple picking, decorating for Halloween, family hikes, leaf gathering, making fairy homes and more) but I also dread fall because it does indeed bring winter. It is indeed a time to gather in, prepare, and be thankful for warm days.

Both of our kids were born in October...it seems like we celebrate the entire fall. We pick apples, make pie, decorate pumpkins , take hikes in the woods, and make things with what we find on the forest floor.

Fall is a time for me to again have more time to bake again. I love the sunny warm days sprinkled through the fall season here in the midwest.

I love fall!! By far my favorite! Cool, crisp air...apples, beautiful leaves, pumpkins, sweaters...everything!

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Fall is my most loved season, perhaps because I was born in Sept.

Lovely!

Autumn has always been my favorite season! Living in Ohio it is just beautiful! I chose this season to get married because of it grand beauty. For me it is definitely a time to "gather".not only little white pumpkins but also..my thoughts, my expectations & prepare for the long winter days ahead. I love how you compared the beauty of the season with the death of something. I believe our lives reflect this same timing. The Lord always gives beauty to everything, even death! God bless you.

That's so interesting. I've always thought of fall as the beginning of the holiday season. It's my favorite time of year and I so look forward to bundling up and grabbing a latte on a day off and just running errands. Doesn't that sound silly? But I love not having obligations or places to be and when it's overcast, it's so much more indulgent to be outside. Oh and baking! Speaking of which, I need to get my halloween cookie cutters out, it's almost here!

Living in Michigan I can't say that I ever anticipate winter. However, while I don't have a favorite season - I do enjoy the fall. On the right mornings there's a quality to the light and the air that is impossible to describe and a beauty to be found in all things. I also like to drive into town (since I live out in the boondocks) and wander around on the city sidewalks with my camera and take more photos than what are likely necessary.

Fall has always been my favorite although our fall here in north Florida is far more suttle then yours. We do get out color, crisp air and the hope of new things to come.

Absolutely my favourite season, forever and always. I love the colours, I love the crispness in the air...fall fairs...the desire to cook and bake (because it's not so damn hot in the kitchen). I look forward to hunkering down with scary movies for Hallowe'en, and celebrating Thanksgiving (second Monday in October here). My family was always big on doing our own preserves and a lot of that happened in the autumn. We are a squash family as well so fall reminds me of big hubbards and nutty buttercup squash. Mmmmm. I even like winter. I'm just not a hot, humid weather person. Living in Ontario, all 4 season are very distinct, which I am really happy about - but yeah, could do without the stifling humidity in summer. ;)

Many friends have recently traveled to Chicago, my daughter taking a school trip to learn more about politics there, apparently like no other place in the country for politics, maybe we'll start a fall tradition of visiting Chicago, it sounds like an amazing city to explore...if not that, I'll have to learn some new recipes...my stomach is growling from reading everyone's comments about favorite fall foods, I'm a summer person myself

I live in constant expectation of every season. Fall doesn't signify an end to summer to me, but a much anticipated change in scenery. Neither does it make me contemplate the impending doom of winter, but rather it represents a chance to see a different incarnation of the beauty of nature. I like to relish in the uniqueness of each season, enjoying it to the full. So bring on the sweaters and apple cider! :)

Now IS always the beginning of becoming whatever we want to be. Autumn is my season, too, even if it's too ephemeral.

Fall in Paris :) wonderful ! I love autumn and autumn leaves !

Yes :) Apple cider and maybe little hot wine , black chocolate with salt :)

Cider, cider and... ummm... cider! Collecting apples amongst sheep in the orchard, the smell of crushed apples going through the press, the tasting of the juice to decide this year's blend. Gathering other fruits for wine making comes close, but somehow I always get slightly obsessed with apples at this time of year!

Love, love, love the fall! Having grown up in Michigan, the fall and winter seasons are a much needed break from the heat of summer in the south. But more than that, the trees and their many shades or red, orange and yellow continue to entertain me....it's like driving through a painting :)

Fall is both a nostalgic and a melancholy time for me. Fall has always been my favorite season. As a child, it meant going back to school (which I loved) and playing in the leaves and sitting outdoors with my family in the evenings around campfires, listening to nature settling down for the night. As an adult with grown children, it continues to be my favorite season. I absolutely love the colors displayed in the mountains, I have an urge to do fall cleaning (to make up for the spring cleaning that didn't quite get finished) and I enjoy putting up the remaining harvest from our garden. Fall was also my parents' favorite season. They both loved nature and appreciated it in all its blazing glory this time of year. Sadly, or perhaps not, both of them passed away during their favorite season, one in September and one in October. The only complaint I have about fall now is that it just doesn't last long enough.

Caleb, Interesting perspective and so different from my world. Fall is Harvest time, a busy time- preparation time! Fall, as an Etsy seller, is preparation for the holiday season. My visual of fall: Combines cleaning the fields and blocking the road and gardens or yards being prepared for winter. Falling leaves, the barren fields, remind me of the list of things I need to get done before the first snow. If you have animals, then you are thinking of ordering and storing hay, shelter,etc. In the mix of this, there are mum, pumpkin, and apple stands, seasoned decorations, fall festivals, school events, and Indian summer weather. I love fall, but winter to me, is where I can cozy up, reflect, and have a break..oh, but then there is hockey season :)

p.s. cute picture of your little boy :)

Living in Ohio, we see all 4 seasons and for each I have a unique appreciation. Autumn does have a little extra special dash of magical feeling to it. Lovely write-up!

We love to take it all in ~ the organic aroma of the crisping leaves, the last glimmers of the sunset that disappear earlier and earlier. We're in Chicago as well and make a yearly pilgrimage to experience the riot of color away from the city ~ Starved Rock this year.

I love your story Caleb. I also love fall but not our Chicago winters. It's wonderful to gather all of summers bounty and preserve it for winter. I love all things pumpkin and can't get enough this time of year.I think of my dad that pasted away this month and all the nature walks we took. We had a secret spot for finding bittersweet my sister and I placed some on his casket along with drift wood. These were some of his loves and he passed them on to us.

Sweater weather; coming in from the chill of outside to a warm fire inside; stews, chilis and casseroles; the smell of pumpkin spice; celebrating halloween; the lovely evening light; the smell of dried leaves in the air the sound of their crunch beneath your feet. For my family it is also a time of charity when we donate outgrown or rarely used clothing, when we clean out the pantry and donate to the local food shelf and pass along loved items no longer needed to other family members.

Loved this piece. Here in the Chicago area we joke that we have 2 seasons, winter and summer. But, this makes fall all the more appealing. Its a special treat, something we don't get everyday but when here its glorious. My little family of four goes on long walks just to crunch the leaves as our parents did with us. We take a thermos of hot Abuelita coco and just walk and drink and chat and play with the leaves. Likewise, fall gives us a chance to renew- we chat of the changes to be made, the things we need to let go off and are thankful for the beauty that surrounds us.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. Hayride to pick in the patch, always anticipated and never outgrown. Carving of the toothy jacks. The smell of roasting seeds. Baking of the pies, creamy ones with topped with homemade whipped cream.

Someone told me that the older you become the more you like Spring. I believe that's true. :)

Fall always has a sweet melancholy over it - at least that is how I tend to feel! Even though the calendar year starts in January, I always feel like the "new year" starts somewhere in September - maybe a remnant from my school years? I'm not sure.. My birthday is in September, which also makes it a special month for me ;-)

Yes, lovely article. Thanks for the reminder about how great Fall is. For me, it's harvesting and then preserving the food or giving it away, getting the garden put to bed for the winter, clearing drains to be ready for the big winter rains in my part of the country--in other words, a lot of work! But thanks to the crisp Fall energy in the air, on top of all these tasks I was able to launch my Etsy webpage a couple of days ago, which IS a lot of work for the technologically impaired. Whoopee!

I love the picture in this blog post. I, too, love photography and everything about it. Living in south Georgia though doesn't give us that beautiful fall foliage like the Northeastern states. We do have a few pretty Sycamore trees here and there and of course our Bradford Pear trees in our yard turn a very pretty color but other than that we miss out. I am not really fond of fall because I know that winter is around the corner and I am not a fan of cold weather. ;) My favorite season hands down is Spring! Great blog entry. Good to see a man passionate about writing/blogging too!

Sweet take on Fall; especially for a Chicagoan. I enjoy the snaps of cooler weather & definately love the changing colors of the trees, relish in bright Indian Summer days, but know the long bone-chilling winter is right around the corner. Boo.

...having recently moved to Florida after spending many decades in NY, I can truly say, I miss FALL the most. and I am a self-proclaimed tropical girl. still, I miss the fall, the crispness of the air, the "letting go" of old habits, gearing up for a new version of myself. for some reason, fall for me has always been a time of reflection and starting anew. just not the same symbolism when it's still 90 degrees out! thanks for the great article!

So beautifully written! We always look forward to decorating our house in fall colors and carving pumpkins!

autumn may or may not be my favorite season, but it really isn't a death...Things go to sleep and transform and rest up for a new season of growth....the winter is as beautiful as all the other seasons....it's not as beautiful to me (I hate snow)...but never the less...it is stunning with purple skies, cobalt blue ice, orange sunrises and the etched tracery of black branches shattering the hard charcoal sky.

I love fall. The smell...the colors...the holidays!

In Kansas, the summers are too hot. Fall is the best. I love to unplug so I can get out and walk - and while I walk I think. I even started blogging about my thoughts since the weather has cooled down. http://freshretrogalleryetsy.blogspot.com/

I love Fall so much that my daughter's middle name is Autumn. I too could live with this season year round. The cooler weather means more quilt time and all the comfort foods that make the house smell like Grandma's use to. Yes I too love Fall.

I am so glad I live in a part of the world that has 4 distinctive seasons. My two favorites are spring and fall. I am a farmer. Spring brings the promise of new life and the hope of a good season on my farm. Fall is the time when I have done my best and my crops are all in, I know where I stand. It is a time to reflect of what I might do different next year and best of all I AM DONE. Now I get to play, and do what I love to do most of all. Work and design with my girls.

I look forward to Autumn every year! The foliage, pumpkins, apples, Halloween, the crisp air, even the colors of the sky are more beautiful than any other season! I would love to be stuck in Fall!

I have always felt that Autumn was a time of beginnings -- possibly because I was born in October; probably because from ages 4-17, it literally was the time to begin a new year of school. I have usually received raised eyebrows and stilted replies when I have voiced this visceral feeling of renewal and beginning while the outside world is becoming dark and shriveled. Glad to know that I am not as alone in the love of Autumn as some would have me feel.