Autumn as seen from the Heart

… and as smelled through the nose.

It seems the whole country has been fighting a cloying heat wave since spring. Here in Florida, we had days when it was in the 90’s and with the Heat Index, it was 108 to 111 degrees! 

But that’s shy of what several states out west had.  There it began with temperatures in the 100’s.  Then add on the Heat Index. I have to ask … if there’s a hell, is it this hot?  If so, I must remember to stay a GOOD girl …

I’m looking forward to autumn –it’s just around the bend.  It’s always been my favorite season. The days turn cooler, they’re less humid and the temperature drops even further at night, making sleep more comfortable.

It’s so easy to get caught up in this amazing, colorful season. In most of the country, leaves cover the ground in living color and trees that can, will all be nude again, even here in Florida.

I remember when I lived in New England, the population always swelled in the fall when the ‘leaf peepers’ came north to view Mother Nature’s own art gallery. 

Of course, the extra people also meant additional traffic on the roads which made even the closest errands take two or three times longer for us ‘townies’.  Peak color season didn’t last long though and ‘peepers’ were soon gone and back home again.

Here in Florida, we have our own version of the ‘peepers’.  They’re nicknamed ’snowbirds’ here because they come south to escape northern winters.  Then they mass exodus in the spring and early summer –just as hurricane season begins.  For those few months though, traffic backs up everywhere and grocery stores have empty shelves.

As a child growing up in Ohio, I loved the leaves in autumn. The smell was so homey and good.  If you had been locked in a box for a year and you were let out in the fall, you would know it was autumn just by the smell of the leaves, especially if they were being burned. 

My sibs and I had such fun building houses and forts ---well, the walls of houses and forts.  We had to leave openings where the doorways were. The next day, we helped Daddy rake them back into piles and he ceremoniously lit them with a match.

I think that’s something I miss most about autumn ---the pungent smell of leaf piles burning. —it’s something the powers-that-be in city government won't allow anyone to do anymore these days.  What a shame … the kids of today are missing out on something very special.

At the orchard in town, there was apple picking, choosing the perfect pumpkins for carving, and drinking apple cider from little paper cups while we waited for mom and dad to pay the cashier.  Out back they had a large pond with ducks and for a quarter, we could buy a paper cup with duck food to feed them. 

And who could ever forget the county fair in autumn? In my hometown, as small as it was, they even closed school for the entire week the fair was being held.

I’d be willing to bet we walked miles and miles on the midway when I was in high school.  I loved the rides, playing the games on both sides of the midway, and I even enjoyed walking through all the animal barns. They had their own hold-your-nose ‘charm’ that followed you around for hours.

Who would ever miss the food vendors?  They were peppered everywhere up and down the midway.  The sweet smell of cotton candy hung the air and it mingled with other equally delicious scents.

I used to love watching the cotton candy guy behind the glass as he turned a white paper cone around and around along the edge of a silver vat. Suddenly, a pastel cloud mysteriously appeared and you just had to have some.

Right next to the cotton candy cart was usually the Italian sausage vendor.  I suppose parents got together and asked him to park there.  Then maybe their children would have something good for them first (out of guilt if nothing else) and then have cotton candy.

My favorite fair food though had to be the French fries, cut long and thick. You got them in a large heavy paper cup.  They were best, squirted with special vinegar and you just picked them up with your fingers. Those fries to this day are my yardstick for measuring good French fries — very few have ever measured up.

One of the best parts of autumn was always the haunted house, complete with scary organ music. It was set up in one of the barns at the fairground when the fair was over.

You were welcome inside by ghosts, witches and werewolves and, of course, Dracula, who always hid in a closed coffin that popped open, just as you walked by.

I remember walking through the barn doors, adrenaline pumping, heart racing, and my mind silently screaming ... "Go ahead, scare me! Scare the livin’ crap outta me!"

... and it always did.

Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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