Finding Fall

I don't know if I can blame the flu shot, but I was tired and out of sorts most of the day yesterday and went to bed early, and I could easily go back to sleep now. But I must soldier onward! I have work to do. I was thinking this would be an easy week, since I'm not actively working on a book, but I let a lot of other stuff pile up. I really need to get over that all-or-nothing tendency of mine. I seem to be incapable of dealing with anything else when I'm writing. I guess I need to become a big bestseller who can hire staff to handle the housekeeping, promo, and general life stuff while I hide in my cave and make up stories.

Meanwhile, we're so close to fall, and yet not really anywhere near there in this part of the country. There are some tantalizing teases, like waking up this morning to a cool rain. I got excited and baked scones for breakfast because there's nothing like tea and scones while it rains outside. But then the rain was gone and the sun was out before I was through baking. People keep posting fall pictures to Facebook, and I long for cool days, sweater weather, and all the stuff that comes with fall.

One day when I have the time and money for it, I'm going to try to extend fall as long as possible by traveling to follow it. Starting in late August in Alaska, then maybe somewhere in Canada or northern Europe for September, late September to early October in New England, and work my way south. Then we finally get fall-like weather in November and December here. And then I could go to Australia or New Zealand in our spring for their fall.

There are places in the world where it's basically winter year-round, and places that are always summer-like. There are even places where the temperature is mostly spring-like all the time. But because fall is a transitional time, there's no climate that's like a permanent fall. It would be impossible to keep trees that color, for one thing. And I think fall would lose some of its charm if it were year-round, if it didn't come after summer. But I wouldn't mind having three full months of it rather than a day or two.

I've got at least a month before we start really feeling like fall, except for maybe the occasional teasing moment of a cold front coming through. The sweaters will have to wait.

And no, I'm not really into pumpkin spice. I'm more of an apple-cinnamon kind of gal.