HT: Dawn
When does fall begin for you? The week of Michelmas, St. Jerome, St. Therese, Guardian Angels and St. Francis. (Whew!)
What is your favorite aspect of fall? The hunkering down feeling that comes over me mid-October. I suddenly get a mad urge to make pot roast with carrots and potatoes, popovers, bake apple crisp and light candles. In fact I made this exact meal yesterday for my in-laws. Except they brought apple crisp and I made chocolate zucchini cake - a recipe I will share when I post about our "Z" week!
What do you like to drink in the fall? More coffee. With biscotti.
What's your favorite fall food? Apple or pumpkin anything. With cinnamon. I also like to make squash soup this time of year.
What is fall weather like where you live? Fall in Minnesota comes much more quickly than the ones I grew up with in Oklahoma. I imagine it to be more like New England. The temps are cooler and the possibility of an early snowstorm keeps one on task with the winterizing jobs.
What color is fall? Pretty much all the colors of the rainbow, counting the clear blue sky!
What does fall smell like? Musty leaves. Fireplace smoke.
Holiday shopping in fall: yes or no? Last year I had it all done before advent, but missed out on some free shipping deals!
If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go? East.
Wha
t is your favorite fall sport? Can't say I am a sports enthusiast. I once ran a 5K in the fall and would like to again someday. Someday.
Do you have a favorite fall chore? Getting out the autumn decorations and planting bulbs.
What is your least favorite thing about fall? ASIAN LADYBUGS. RAGWEED. When daylight savings ends. Football making the 10pm news late. Deer hunting widows. When the frost kills my morning glories. Dreading a long winter.
What is your favorite fall holiday? My birthday! My husband's is three days later so we celebrate together.
What's your favorite kind of pie? Lemon meringue or key lime in the summer. Pumpkin and apple in the fall. And pecan pies - they remind me of the little Bama pies I used to eat growing up. The Bama factory was across the street from my undergrad alma mater and the sweet smell wafted across the campus.
What was your favorite Halloween costume? I only remember one really - from a photograph. My mother drew a big Queen of Hearts on posterboard and attached it to a big box painted red. I must have worn red tights on bottom and the box on top.
What was your favorite Halloween candy? Candy corn mixed with peanuts. And those fun size chocolate bars. Such a weakness for those!
What was your least favorite Halloween candy? Jolly Ranchers
Which do you prefer, the Farm or the Fair? Farm. The fair wears me out!
Do you have a favorite fall book? Oh, the ones on my typelist. I am partial to Woody Hazel and Pip - and usually save it for November.
How about a favorite fall poem?
| James Whitcomb Riley. 1853–1916 |
| 10. "When the Frost is on the Punkin" |
| WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock, | |
| And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock, | |
| And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens, | |
| And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence; | |
| O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best, | 5 |
| With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest, | |
| As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock, | |
| When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock. | |
| They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere | |
| When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here— | 10 |
| Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees, | |
| And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees; | |
| But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze | |
| Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days | |
| Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock— | 15 |
| When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock. | |
| The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn, | |
| And the raspin' of the tangled leaves as golden as the morn; | |
| The stubble in the furries—kindo' lonesome-like, but still | |
| A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill; | 20 |
| The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed; | |
| The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover overhead!— | |
| O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock, | |
| When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock. | |
| Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps | 25 |
| Is poured around the cellar-floor in red and yaller heaps; | |
| And your cider-makin's over, and your wimmern-folks is through | |
| With theyr mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and sausage too!... | |
| I don't know how to tell it—but ef such a thing could be | |
| As the angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me— | 30 |
| I'd want to 'commodate 'em—all the whole-indurin' flock— | |
| When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock. |
Happy Fall!
