Scents of Autumn

I just took number 3 to the bus for school camp. A freshman in high school. He'll be gone until Friday. As I got back home I noticed a smell in the air. It is beginning to smell like fall. Now it is September and leaves haven't started falling much yet. I wonder what that smell is? Perhaps the result of some recent rains. Maybe it's the dreaded molds that are going to wreak havoc shortly. I don't know.

When I was younger fall was a favorite season. I have always liked wearing sweaters and walking in leaves. Of course the bad part is the leaves must ultimately be raked up. I got some whopping blisters on my hands as a youngster.

In S.C. and especially in Charleston even after the leaves fall there is plenty of green. Pine trees galore! My husband really didn't like it much. He wanted to be back in the midwest where, as he put it, "They have a change of seasons." Of course I recognized the change of seasons. He just needed to open his eyes.

As a comparison, when I was in college my freshman year they told us during orientation that we wouldn't need our winter items until after Thanksgiving break. And I knew from experience that on Easter we didn't need our winter coats anymore. Now I live in the midwest and we have to pull out our winter coats by Halloween and don't get to put them back in moth balls until Mother's Day. Easter is probably the hardest thing to get used to here. I get tempted every year to leave my coat at home. Then I step out the back door. BRRRR!

I really don't mind living in the midwest. We are near Chicago, IL and that offers quite a lot to see and do. There are those days that I would prefer not having to deal with such a long winter.