Cozy Up, It’s Finally Fall

The air is crisp today, chilling my fingers, cheeks, and exposed shins. Only a few leaves have made their way to the black pavement of Cottage Row, my regular jogging path, but I seek them out, landing on each one to hear that satisfying crunch. I should have worn mittens and a cap. I should have worn sweatpants, not my thin, gray yoga capris. Fall has taken hold.

A few weeks ago, I had mixed feelings about the season I had once declared my favorite, breezing in and taking away the summer heat, the students, the craving for watermelon, and the flip-flops that sufficed day and night. Yet, I have come to believe that summer is somewhat of a chaotic time, a time when one is literally and figuratively quite exposed, wearing bathing suits, susceptible to falling into wild infatuations or uncharacteristic impulses, like dying your hair bleach blonde or diving into the lake at two in the morning.

Fall, on the other hand, seems a return to comfort and predictability. School buses line the road every morning and afternoon while couples walk, hand in hand, wearing wool sweaters, replacing the children who once rode bicycles with beach towels over their shoulders. The craving for lemonade and strawberry shortcake has been replaced by the craving for hot cider and pumpkin pie. Now time is marked by traditions and holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

For Door County, the final weeks of the season are marked by festivals: Egg Harbor’s Pumpkin Patch (October 10 – 12) and Sister Bay’s Fall Fest (October 17 – 19). These weekends celebrate that hazy transition from summer to winter, as well as the end of the Door County season, with hot drinks and food, fine art, live music, parades, and fall displays. There is something about this season.

I zig-zag back to my cottage, past a couple in sweaters, holding hands, a family sitting along the curb, preparing for the day, and a line of women holding their morning cup of coffee. The shops are bustling. The fresh fall air is invigorating. Quite suddenly, I have the urge to pick apples or carve a pumpkin, buy a sweater, press leaves, throw a football, sharpen a pencil and write out the alphabet, or take a drive and stop at every orchard along the way. Enjoy the season!