Welcome, Fall

When I decided to write this post, I picked up my phone to see if I had any good pictures to add.


Then I walked around, trying to think of something to photograph to illustrate the gloriousness that is fall.



I failed.


I took this photo of my beloved little fiend:

Then I took this photo of peppers from my garden, which will become our dinner tonight:

Stuffed Peppers, anyone?

I stepped out onto my porch, where my plants are swaying in the cool breeze, and the sun has warmed the wooden planks under my feet.



And I thought, nope.



Can't do it.



Fall is beyond a shadow of a doubt my favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong, I love baking in the heat and sweating in the sunshine, green growing things and swimming and basking in the summer nights. But there is something magical about the heat seeping away, the chill in the morning, and the quietness of the earth drowsing as summer slips away.


Dan and I had breakfast outside today, at Elcy's Cafe. We sat with Lily, and our delicious sandwiches and coffee, and talked about fall.


Oktoberfest is coming up, when we go apple and pumpkin picking, eat chili and have a bonfire.


School is rolling along, and I actually need all my cardigans and long pants now.


I'm making plans to winter over my garden, and expand for next summer.


And (possibly best of all) we're headed for the season of holidays--Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.


We haven't traveled very far. We've been to the Mediterranean, bits of the West coast, Missouri, Iowa, and Michigan, and up and down the East coast. There are so many places left to see, and I'm sure there is something special and awesome about each place. The way the mountains rise out of the sea in Sicily, the navy blueness of the water in the North Atlantic, the palm trees in San Diego, even the vast cornfields of the Midwest.

Savoca, Sicily. June 2011.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon, July 2012. 

Magnolia, MA (North of Boston), Summer 2008?

Fall in Pennsylvania, though, has its own kind of splendor. The changing and falling leaves, the crispness of the morning, switching out shorts and swimsuits for sweaters and corduroys...these are what make fall amazing. The anticipation of the winter coming, and the sense that the earth is sleepy after a busy summer of warmth and growing. I love being able to bake again, love apple picking and adding an extra blanket to our bed. I love the change, I love the newness.


I'm thankful for the creativity of a God who not only provides for our basic needs, but makes the world such a beautiful place to live.