Is it Fall? Or Christmas?

I think Mother Nature is confused. It’s October, which is hard enough for me to believe, but some of the small trees in my neighborhood have already shed their brightly colored leaves. They were pretty for about a half a second – and then they were on the ground where Maggie and I have been crunching them underfoot on our daily walks.

 

Okay, that’s sort of normal for this time of year – maybe a little soon for the foliage to completely surrender. But it was also in the mid- to upper-70s last week. So which is it, Mother Nature? Late Summer or Early Fall?

 

Both, I guess. Because this morning the temps plummeted to the upper 30s. Brrr.

 

And now I have to say what I say every Fall: I’m. Not. Ready. For. This!

 

Of course, some people I know have been ready for Fall since sometime around mid-July. And others have even started in on Christmas. That, for sure, I’m not ready for.

 

But it does no good to complain as the changing of the seasons is going to come whether we’re ready for it or not.

 

Doesn’t mean I’m breaking out my warmest winter coat just yet. But I did unearth a pair of gloves the other morning.

 

And it also doesn’t mean I’m breaking out the Christmas tree and all my pretty, sparkly decorations either. I promised myself this year I’m going to let the fall holidays have their due before I haul out the tree.

 

Even if I’m not a big fan of orange.

 

Besides, I have a ton of pumpkins – glass, ceramic and fabric – and they do me no good tucked away in a tote in the garage.

 

And – c’mon – it’s me.  In addition to the one or two orange pumpkins, I also have hot pink and mint green pumpkins. Who needs to be realistic in Jane’s Domain?!

 

I have a neighbor down the street who is equally as confused as Mother Nature. Last night when Maggie and I passed their place, I saw an entire pumpkin and gourd display in their yard, complete with orange lights and Dollar Store scarecrows.

 

But, since their blinds were open and I could see past the kitchen and into their living room, I also noticed they’ve already put up their six-foot Christmas tree.

 

You can’t even fake that it’s their “Fall” (read: both Halloween and Thanksgiving) tree since red, yellow, blue and green lights shout neither “Trick or Treat” nor “Happy Thanksgiving”!

 

I don’t know whether or not they’ve decorated the tree with ornaments yet, mostly because I didn’t want to get caught staring. I’d have to maneuver through their bales of hay to press my nose up to the glass – and I’m not that curious. Plus, I don’t relish the idea of getting arrested as a Peeping Tom, er, Jane.

 

Who’d walk Maggie before I got bailed out?

 

I used to get a little grumpy when stores rushed the holidays. First, they put up Christmas decorations immediately after Halloween, along with their 50% off bags of Fun-Size Snickers and Almond Joys. Then they started putting up their displays before Halloween. Now, you can barely get through Labor Day without seeing a few garlands and ornaments and trees decking the halls by the first of September.

 

No wonder people get confused and start decorating for all the last quarter of the year holidays concurrently. It’s a HalloThanksMas kind of experience.

 

But, hey. In my old age, I’ve decided that people can do whatever they want.

 

I’ll just stay here in my little corner of the world enjoying my hot pink and mint green pumpkins.

 

And I’ll work on keeping warm. Or cool. Depending on what Mother Nature decides.

 

Who’s Ready for Fall?

I really didn’t want summer to end as I’m not looking forward to the snow and ice that will all too soon be in our Ohio future. Sure, we’ve gotta get through the craziness of all things pumpkin, the falling of the leaves and the simultaneous putting away of the flip flops and unearthing of the boots. But I’m mentally preparing myself for these events, so it may not hit me as hard.

 

Especially when I realize that I have absolutely no responsibility this year of raking up the fallen leaves. Yahoo!

 

Well. Not that I ever actually took rake in hand and arranged the leaves in a neat pile near the street to be collected by the city. We either hired someone to handle the task – or Vince got out his handy-dandy leaf blower and did the job himself.

 

Last fall, the yard guy was busy, so I tried my hand with Vince’s leaf blower. This was not a good move since all I managed to accomplish was to blow the leaves in a bigger circumference around the very large tree in our front yard. The leaves were nowhere near the street and in no way would anyone have considered them arranged in a pile, so all I did was create more work for the yard guy. Oops.

 

I’m guessing he’s glad that I moved.

 

Despite my hanging on to the last possible vestige of summer, the calendar has inevitably turned the page and it is now officially Fall. To underscore that fact, this morning’s walk with Maggie Minx had me busting out both a sweatshirt and a fall jacket since the outside temperature was a brisk 43°.

 

I don’t like words like “brisk.” The very word makes me shiver.

 

Some people I know have been fully decorated for the fall season since early August. But me? Well, I’m not one of those people.

 

I had my hot pink wreath on my front door along with my hot pink and black and white-striped urn and matching welcome mat out until I reluctantly removed them from the front stoop only today. Gasp – one day after the beginning of the Autumnal Equinox. For shame, Jane. For shame.

 

All the front doors in this neighborhood have been displaying their wreaths of oranges, yellows and reds for a few weeks now. I started getting a little worried that the Decorations Police would cite me for my inappropriate seasonal display.  Yikes. We wouldn’t want that.

 

So I’ve placed an appropriate Welcome sign, mat and wreath that all shout “Fall.” Since Halloween and Thanksgiving both feature pumpkins as décor, I will keep this display up until it’s time for the Christmas stuff. And that changeover will occur only after Thanksgiving Day. Martha Stewart, I’m not. And I can’t be bothered to put up separate Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations.

 

Nevertheless, I do seem to have a Martha-like penchant for hot glue guns and today I got mine out. I took some inexpensive pumpkins and glue-gunned them together, slapped on some fall-appropriate ribbon and some picks of berries, pinecones and leaves and placed the whole thing in a stand to sit in the corner of the porch.

 

Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that this creation won’t blow away with the gale-force winds that are soon to arrive. The trees in this neighborhood are way smaller than the ones in my old neighborhood and I just remember being so very C-O-L-D from the icy wind when walking Maggie last winter.

 

See? I’m already bypassing the Fall season and going straight to Winter.

 

Hmm. Maybe I should’ve just gotten the Christmas trees out of storage, set that up in the corner of the front porch and been done with it?

 

Nah. I’m not one for bucking the system and I really don’t want a citation from the Decorations Police.

 

I fear that my community service might be leaf raking. Best not to risk it.

 

Happy Fall, y’all!