Long time coming...

So, I haven’t written here for, like, a REALLY long time, but I’m starting to get in that October-y mood again and hey, here’s a handy outlet to write about it, so…



It seems like every year I start to get the “fall fever” right after the 4th of July, which is really unfortunate because right after the 4th of July there is still a LOT of summer to get through. I think it’s because the 4th is really the only holiday to look forward to in summer, and it’s usually the week we go on vacation, and it’s the week of my daughter’s birthday, so all of the summery planning and looking-forward-to-beachy-summery-stuff I do happens in May and June, and then it’s all over. Now I’ve got to drudge through the unbearably hot and boring days of July and August before I see so much as a pumpkin at Target. The appearance of back to school items in local stores has given me hope that fall is on its way. I know many of the craft stores put their fall and Halloween displays out by the end of July or beginning of August, and believe me, I will be trolling the aisles of Michael’s and Hobby Lobby in the coming weeks, but looking at fake pumpkins and orange leaves in an air conditioned store and then being blasted with 90 degree heat once you walk out the door is small consolation for someone who can’t wait for 50 degree weather, leaves turning on the trees outside my window, and the sight of pumpkins on every porch on the block.

As I walked into work this morning, an overnight storm had blown some leftover dry, dead leaves from the trees onto the stairs into the building. Rain made them wet enough to appear orange and I could almost imagine, for a minute, that it was already fall. If I ignored the fact that it was 70 degrees at 8 in the morning, if ignored the fact that I was comfortably wearing a short-sleeved dress and sandals, I could almost frame the morning as one in early October. So I’m feeding that feeling by going back through the Halloween countdown archives at X Entertainment, visiting Halloween Forum to connect with the other crazies like me, getting visual inspiration from the All Hallows Design blog (which I hope will be revived this fall, it’s really great) and Creepy Cupcakes, and Googling images of vintage Beistle decorations. I take comfort in the fact that there ARE other people like me, who despair at the long, warm, sunny days that stretch ahead of us and look forward to cold, rainy, spooky nights with rain and dead leaves pelting the windows and the flickering glow of a jack-o-lantern peering out into the dark.