The Winds of Autumn

Today is the first day of fall.  Although it doesn't feel like it here (according to my car, it was a sweltering steamy 98 degrees when I left work this afternoon), it's starting to look a little bit like autumn, and there's a tease of the changing season in the morning air.  In tribute to all the good things that come along with this my favorite time of the year, I thought I'd kick off the season with, of course, a list.  (Y'all know they're my favorite.)
101 Things to Love about Fall

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house, so I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air."--Nathaniel Hawthorne

1.  Cardigans
2.  Scarecrows
3.  Flannel sheets
4.  Reese's peanut butter pumpkins
5.  Apple cider
6.  Bales of hay
7.  Class reunions
8.  Trick-or-treating
9.  Pumpkins

10.  Cinnamon

11.  Chili

12.  Indian summer

13.  Pumpkin patches

14.  Your favorite old worn blanket

15.  Turtlenecks

16.  Caramel apples

17.  Carving pumpkins

18.  Beautiful sunsets

19.  Passing houses decorated with pumpkins and mums

20.  Suede

21.  Halloween
22.  Harvest moon

23.  Halloween parties

24.  Pretty fields ready to be harvested

25.  Cornfield mazes

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile."--William Cullen Bryant

26.  College football

27.  Huddling under a blanket at football games

28.  Candy corn

29.  Tailgating

30.  Ghost stories

31.  Haunted houses

32.  Cool weather

33.  Halloween candy

34.  The warmth and comfort of home

35.  New fall TV

36.  Tailgate food

37.  Rosy cheeks

38.  Leaves changing

39.  Sweaters

40.  Rainy afternoons

41.  Smell of burning leaves

42.  Corduroy

43.  Raking leaves

44.  Bonfires
45.  Boots
46.  Fall weddings

47.  High school football

48.  Scarves

49.  Cozy socks

50.  Fall mums

"Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn, time seems speeded up.  What was is not and never again will be; what is, is change."--Edwin Way Teale

51.  Warm pajamas

52.  Wind blowing the leaves

53.  Jumping into a big pile of leaves

54.  Bourbon

55.  Neil Diamond's September Morn

56.  Building the first fire

57.  Driving with the windows down

58.  James Taylor's October Road

59.  Hot chocolate

60.  Sleeping with the windows up

61.  Rosemary Clooney's Shine on Harvest Moon

62.  Burning candles that just smell like fall

63.  Argyle

64.  The juxtaposition of life and death

65.  Cowboy boots

66.  Dark nail polish

67.  Hearty foods

68.  Hayrides

69.  Cool mornings turning to warm afternoons

70.  Decorating for Halloween

71.  New school supplies

72.  Apples

73.  Cold fingers and noses

74.  Fall colors:  orange, red, rellow, and brown

75.  Walking through crunching leaves

"Deep inside, we're still the boys of autumn, that magic time of the year that once swept us onto America's fields."--Archie Manning

76.  Nutmeg

77.  Shorter days

78.  Letter jackets

79.  Bobbing for apples

80.  Thanksgiving

81.  Pep rallies

82.  Mini pumpkins

83.  Gourds

84.  Scary movies

85.  Wool coats

86.  Indian corn

87.  Fall festivals

88.  New fall clothes

89.  Homecoming

90.  It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

91.  Remember the Titans

92.  Pumpkin pie

93.  Hocus Pocus

94.  Walks in the woods

95.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese

96.  Reading outside on a fall afternoon

97.  Holidays

98.  Long-sleeved t-shirts

99.  Harvest

100.  Apple pie

101.  Rogue cotton on the side of the road

"The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."--Eric Sloane

Happy first day of fall!!