Tea, Tall Socks, and Tree City

Each time the weather changes, I convince myself that this must be my most favorite of seasons. But the real truth is that I find the world so breathtakingly beautiful all year 'round, I can hardly pick a favorite time to look at it. That being said, something about the waning months of the year strikes me with a vigor for living. And it's time for that particular feeling to permeate the season.

It's time for the air to catch the sharp chill of winter and the warm scent of wood fireplaces.

It's time for tall socks and large sweaters.

It's time for hot tea from rosy cups and saucers --morning, noon, and night.

It's time for spiced candles and spiced soup and spiced everything else.

It's time for the trees lining each street to burst into a canopy of yellow, orange, red, and violet.

It's time for the sky to become a continuous dome of gilded marble.

It's time for torrential rain to fill the streams and gutters, and trace slow patterns across foggy windows.

I am enjoying the drawn-out process of Fall here in Oregon. Utah's deciduous trees tend to turn yellow, then brown, then stark naked in a matter of days. Here, the trees and shrubberies take their sweet, colorful time before taking leave. October in Oregon is different from October in Utah in more than a few ways. For one, it's not nearly so cold. In Oregon, you can't see vaporous plumes appear as breathing, laughing, and talking mingle with the air --something I've grown accustomed to over the past few years and am a little surprised to be missing.

That's not all I'm missing. I'm used to missing my family as the holidays approach. But since nearly all of my near and dear ones are either permanently stationed in Utah or have recently migrated away from 'Tree City', I'm beginning to miss the many good friends, pseudo-family, and familiarities of Utah Valley in the Fall.
It's a quieter season than in years past. But life is good. And cozy and spiced and rainy.
And until life brings me back on my merry way to Utah, I'm perfectly content to be sharing the rain and the holidays with my family here in Beaver-town.