Three Signs O'Fall and a Photo

Even though I'm a total slacker blogger now, in my old days, I was quite active over here on this blog. (Go on, look over some of my old posts...see? Busy blogger then).

Anyway, it was in those olden days that I joined a FABULOUS group of ladies who blog. Individually, they are all amazing bloggers in their own right. Collectively, we are "SheWhoBlogs".

This month SheWhoBlogs is having a contest, and I'm entering. You should too!

For this contest we've been asked to share with our readers (that's all 2 of you reading this right now) what we consider to be 3 signs that Fall has arrived, as well as a photo of what Autumn is to us.

This is an easy one for me, because as much as I consider myself a summer girl, whenever Fall arrives, I realize that it really is my favorite season.

So, what are the 3 signs that represent fall to me?

The very first one, and my most favorite one, is the air. It's something that is hard to explain, and if you don't live in an area where Fall is a "real" season, you really have to experience it to understand it. But those of us who live in areas where Fall makes it's presence known, well we know it well. The air changes. The smell, the weight of it, the breeze, the color of the sky, all of it, is suddenly, almost overnight...different.

Suddenly, you step outside and and breathe and...BOOM there it is. Autumn has arrived. It's a beautiful thing.

The second sign of Fall, at least here in New England, are the pumpkins. PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE! Pumpkin farms spring up in neighbors back yards. There are pumpkin pies, pumpkin spiced coffees and lattes, pumpkin's decorating front stoops, pumpkins spilling out of every store front...

I don't actually like pumpkin. Not the pies, not the fruit (vegetable?) itself...but I just love the sight of them, as it signals that Autumn has arrived.

The third sign of spring, once again, especially here in New England, is by far my most favorite...it is, of course, the changing of the leaves. It starts early enough, sometimes as early as the beginning of September, and on a good year (as this year has been), it lasts well into November.

Slowly, here and there, a tree will have a yellow leaf, or a red, orange, almost purple one...

Then, within weeks, a few more trees take on this rainbow of colors.

And then, as if overnight

, driving down a highway on the way to New Hampshire, it's as if you were caught in a whirlwind of reds, oranges, yellows...breathtaking really.

I'll never get enough of it, and it almost makes the long, cold, dreary winters worth it.

Okay, that's a lie...but, you know, at least we have the leaves.