The leaves are starting to change in the canyon. In a few short weeks there won’t be any left on the trees.
I’ve lived in places where the seasons don’t change much. There you have your choice between hot and warm. The Black Hills of South Dakota is not one of those places.
Summer is my favorite season. Spring is a close second. Fall comes in a distant third and winter, well, winter can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I’m concerned.
However, I try to make the most of what I’ve got. And right now, for better or worse, I’ve got fall. To me fall has a few redeeming qualities, which is why it isn’t tied for last place with winter. The best thing is Halloween, which happens to be my all-time favorite holiday EVER.
Fall has it’s own smells. I love the apple-cinnamon scent that is so popular this time of year and the smell of a wood fire is amazing, so I guess the smells of fall are okay. With the cooler weather I do more baking, so the house smells different…like fresh bread, brownies, or cookies.
That brings me to the taste of fall. I love sweets. I love fresh baked bread. I love chocolate. Unlike most of the rest of my family, though, I do not like pumpkin. Not even a little.
In the Black Hills, fall has it’s own look. Sure, Halloween costumes are everywhere, but it takes living in a special place to understand the necessity of having Halloween costumes three sizes too big (so you can fit your winter coat underneath, of course). But the leaves changing in nearby Spearfish Canyon are a beautiful mix of greens, golds, oranges, yellows and reds.
Ghost stories seem to fill the air this time of year. Combine those with an over-active imagination and the crackle of dry, fallen leaves and you know fall sounds different than any other time of year.
The feel of fall is a 50-50 split. Hay rides are fun. Hay always gets stuck in places where it shouldn’t. Hay is itchy. Itchy is no fun. And I hate cold. I really, truly despise cold. Fall temperatures are, well, cold.
Maybe fall isn’t so bad after all. I don’t have to eat pumpkin flavored anything and I can always stay inside whenever possible. And there is something to be said for reading by the fireplace, isn’t there?
Nichole
Nichole R. Bennett has been an avid mystery reader from a young age. Her first novel, Ghost Mountain, is available from Second Wind Publishing. When she’s not writing, Nichole can be found doing a plethora of crafty things, drinking coffee, eating chocolate, or spending too much time online. Oh, and reading.
But not hanging out in the cold.
