Celebrate all that's great about fall

Fall is here … well almost.
The official first day of fall is Monday, but we’ve been blessed with beautiful fall temperatures, except today when it’s supposed to be 80 (insert sad face here).
If I haven’t written it before, fall is my absolute favorite season. And it’s been this way for as long as I can remember.
Some may ask why. My answer is because the weather is absolutely perfect: not too hot and not too cold. Fall clothing is my favorite, and the season brings a lot of yummy foods.
Winter is much too cold, and my skin gets dry and cracked. And there’s snow, which I despise except at Christmas time.
Summer is too hot, and I do not like sweating. Plus there’s the high humidity, which pretty much guarantees I’ll never have a good hair day.
Spring is OK, but there’s a lot of rain. And during that season, much of the grass, plants and flowers are still dead, which isn’t pretty.
But fall is perfect. It may occasionally get too hot or too cold, but the temperatures tend to stay in the 50s and 60s, which I love.
The leaves change colors, creating beautiful landscapes.
In addition to the weather, some of my favorite foods accompany fall.
Pumpkin and apples. I love them, in any form.
Pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream (I recommend a pumpkin pie blizzard from Dairy Queen, but go now because it closes for the season tomorrow) and pumpkin roll are just some of my favorite treats.
On the apple side, I love carmel apples, apple crisp and apple cider.
But the most fun is getting to go to the orchard to pick apples and pumpkins. That’s one of my favorite ways to spend an October Saturday.
And that’s what I’m doing today. I plan to spend the day at Tuttles Orchard in Greenfield, where I’m sure to pick a lot of apples, drink an apple cider slushie (or two) and buy pumpkin baked goods.
While sweets tend to make up most of my diet, I also love chili or soup on fall days. Chicken and dumplings and cheesy casseroles are perfect for a cold night too.
In addition to fall foods, I also love fall clothing. I’m always cold, and I wear a lot of cardigans and sweaters. During fall, I don’t seem so odd because everyone else it doing it.
And I love boots. They are my favorite type of shoes to wear, but it gets too hot in late spring and summer to wear them.
But the pieces of my closest I love most during fall are scarves. I love a big, cozy scarf on a cold autumn day.
A cardigan, my favorite jeans, boots and a scarf make for my favorite outfit.
The absolute best part of fall comes in a white and green cup … that’s right, it’s a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.
Though the drink is a little pricey, I can never drive by a Starbucks during the fall without stopping.
The drink is so delicious and only available for a few short months, so I make sure to get as many as I can.
Drinking a pumpkin spice latte is like drinking a cup of fall.
It may be 80 degrees today, but it won’t stay that way for long.
And I will probably be seen frolicking through Jay County celebrating the beginning of my favorite season in a sweater, jeans and boots with a pumpkin spice latte in hand.
Because my favorite season is here.