Looking forward to fall and all that comes with it

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” From Letter to Miss Eliot, Oct. 1, 1841— George Eliot

Autumn is my favorite season. Not too cold, not too hot. I can still go to the beach and swim in the ocean and come home and curl up under a blanket as the night falls. Ah, autumn…

The first day of fall this year is Sept. 22, but I can already tell a difference in the air each morning. Yes, it’s still hot everyday. This is southeast Alabama after all. But, there is crispness in the air at 6:30 a.m. that I haven’t felt in a while. I’ve even needed to pull the blanket up a little higher each morning and turn the air conditioner off.

Now, of course, we all know it will be hot for a bit longer, but I will simply relish the cool mornings for now.

Did you know that the axis of the earth determines the seasons and that the first day of fall is called the autumnal equinox? On the autumnal equinox, day and night are each about 12 hours long (with the actual time of equal day and night, in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring a few days after the autumnal equinox). The sun crosses the celestial equator going southward; it rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west. 

Equinox means “equal night.”

From here on out—even before the actual first day of fall—the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights. I love that now, but will soon dislike it becoming dark before I ever get off work. But, alas, I sleep better this time of year and throughout the fall and winter months. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have cool temperatures when your house is not insulated and only a small window air unit cools the air. I am grateful for that little square machine that juts out of my house, though.

Fall brings football, basketball, pumpkins, colorful leaves, turkey, apples and hayrides—all good things. Enjoy the final days of summer, then take a deep breath of the incoming fall air, grab a good book, curl up in your favorite chair and enjoy the natural calming of mother nature.

Jan Murray is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].