The Off-Season

[judecorp]

It seems like everyone had chili for dinner tonight. And why not? It is definitely chili weather.

~//~

The smell in my brain is crisp air tinged with wood smoke, the sound is crunching leaves under stiff shoes. The fwip feel of corduroy is between my legs and my hands are just dry enough to need dots of lotion. Warm, thick, stick-to-your-ribs meals have replaced cool salads - oatmeal for breakfast, creamy soups for lunch, stews for dinner. The sky is grey and ominous during the day, clear by night with sparkling stars.

Today, Smooch and I lived and breathed true autumn on the southern Maine coastline. I zipped my fleece vest over my sweater and we pulled her too-long knitted sleeve over our clasped hands. "Clever mittens you have," she said as she passed us, a well-bundled speed-walker on Shore Road. "I'm just not ready for it to be this cold," I admitted, and she agreed. Houses puffed smoke from chimneys and nearby, someone had started burning the first of the season's cast-off leaves.

We stood on sharp outcroppings of rock over a surging grey sea, bitter mist blowing off waves made stronger with high wind. Our hair whipped frantically, giving us natural toupees, the cold air causing the first rosey cheeks and earaches of October. Scarecrows and pumpkins were the decor du jour, bags of brightly-wrapped candy flooded shelves, patio tables stacked and abandoned. This is the Off Season.

Today was a day for cold hands wrapped around hot cups of coffee, for bigger loads of laundry due to thicker and heavier clothing, for waterproof duckboots and smartwool socks. It is autumn, and it is our birthday, and it is Halloween time, and it is the end of the days you can get manage without coats. This is the last month I can truly stand, the last hold-out before Daylight Saving Time "fall back" hell, and that first strange whiff of the home heat that has been off since April.

It's time to bake heavy breads, stiff pies, and warm dinner rolls. It's time for cranberries and pumpkins and too many apples, for birthday presents and Halloween costumes, for fireplaces and cord wood and oil trucks.

It's time.

Comments

[livinginoctober.livejournal.com]

I didn't have chili, but I DID have whole wheat spaghetti...because of Mark's heart attack, we are eating heart healthy. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

We have some whole wheat pastas here, too, but haven't been making much pasta since Jen's nutritionist told her to lay off some of the carbs. But now you've got me hungry for s'ghetti!!

[buddhafly4224.livejournal.com]

:) i <3 autumn.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I like autumn through the end of October, and then I'm done. After Halloween, I just want to fast-forward until April! =P

[swtpea23.livejournal.com]

Ahh tis my favorite season of the year! I'm getting excited about going home to visit in a couple weeks. My step-mom promised a "Halloween/Thanksgiving dinner" for me since I can't be there for Thanksgiving.

By the way, I mentioned that you left me a comment to Sarah and she wanted me to tell you to give her a call sometime. She didn't want to step on any toes...with you and Jenn's friendship, but she would really like to hear from you.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a great visit and a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. My goodness, the one thing I like about cold weather is the fooooooood! YOM! I hope things have perked up a little bit over there in Cbus - you deserve lots of fun and good times!

(Okay, here's the part of the comment where you get stuck being a messenger. Sorry!) I actually can't call Sarah because my cell phone broke and I had to get a new phone. All my numbers are stuck in my old phone! (POOP!!)

I kept meaning to call her and I just never did. I didn't know if she would think it was weird. Argh. She should e-mail me her number!

[gabriellag.livejournal.com]

When you get to be a SAHM, you should start writing your novel.

I love fall, but I'd never be able to describe it so eloquently.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

If/when I ever get a chance to be a SAHM, when will I have /time/ to write a novel??!? =P

Still, it's a great thought!

[prettyvacantone.livejournal.com]

This is one of the best things I've read that you've written. I'm in love with it. Truly. (And I even hate fall...so it must be especially good. :) )

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Heh, I hate fall, too. Viva la summer!

[(Anonymous)]

i love your style of writing... i lived in maine for a time and i am now stuck in the south for some time, and your post made me want to go put on a sweater and some wool socks and burks even though it is 70 degrees here! the fall is glorious in new england, you have made me truly jealous.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You should definitely visit and get your fix of fall. I think I would appreciate the fall more if I didn't live here and didn't know it was secretly just a lead-in to winter, snow, and high heating bills!

[00solstice.livejournal.com]

It's time to bake heavy breads, stiff pies

mmmmmm... pie. (http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/history7.htm)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

So cute!

[cappucinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Unrelatedly,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[spacecadetjen.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a beautiful way to spend your birthdays. :-) Happy Birthday!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It would have been better without the ridiculous amounts of rain, but oh well - there's always next year!

[estrange.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[damdyke.livejournal.com]

I love this post with every fiber of my being. I'm living vicariously through you this 90 degree afternoon.

I miss real Falls and Winters with leaves changing and snow and all the lovely stuff you reminded me of just now.

I want to go to a cider mill. :-/

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You need to take a trip to someplace autumny sometime and get it out of your system. Heck, I should mail you a whole bunch of leaves and you could have your own private fall!

[damdyke.livejournal.com]

My own private Fall, that's so cute! I've been asking my mom for years to send me leaves (my parents live in northern Indiana...) and she never seems to get around to it. I really miss watching the foliage change. I think you're right, a trip to somewhere autumny is in order.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Do you need me to send you some leaves?