Summer Has Fallen and Autumn Has Sprung…Right???

Everyone keeps saying that Fall started yesterday. The last few days here in So Cal have been cold, rainy and windy. I think I even saw an orangeyish looking leaf on the ground yesterday. It was pretty brittle and may have been on the ground since June, but I am taking it as a good sign. However, it is supposed to be back up in the 90s within a few days so my Fall might be a little shorter than yours, which I guess is a good thing because falling is never really good for anyone and medically speaking, shorter Falls are safer. Trust me on this folks for I have fallen many, many times.

I would assume that Fall derived its name from the falling of leaves this time of year, but it could also be that the name came from the fact that new television comedies debut in Autumn and most are so bad that they quickly ‘fall’ off the TV schedule. With the nice summer weather coming to an end, it is also possible that Autumn is referred to as Fall because workers’ blatant false use of sick days to go to the beach ‘fall’ immensely. This is also about the time of year that the championship hopes of Dodgers, Cubs and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans ‘fall’ to the ground unrealized for yet another year.

The nice thing about our subtly capitalistic society (did you notice my sarcastic tone there because I was really working it over time – that’s what she said. This is why a podcast might be better because then you would hear my sarcastic tone and I wouldn’t have to break the flow of my post to ask you if you sensed it…but I digress) is that no matter where you live you can tell what season it is. At lovely upscale shopping meccas like Target, Kohl’s and Wal-Mart, the day after school starts all of the school supply displays are incinerated or dumped in a big hole in the Nevada desert (I have on good authority that this is really what happens to the stuff, if ‘on good authority’ means something I read on an interweb site that didn’t start with ‘www’) and the Halloween/Fall décor is brought out to replace it. I swear that I am tempted to not buy a calendar this year and just tell the passing of days, months and seasons by weekly trips to Target. Ok, well that and the fact that my cellphone displays the date. And my watch. And my computer. I’m still tempted though.

At Kohl’s the other day, I actually came across decorated Christmas trees with ornaments for sale. Yes, for longtime readers of this blog (by my count that is about 2) I did scream with glee. The only problem with this is that it gave the impression to Lucy and Ethel that they too could yell with glee. Though I think in their case the glee may have been more inspired by the fact that they could scream in a public place than the impendingness (my own word, you can use it if you wish) of the holidays. My point to all of this is the same as it was when I wrote about it last year: uh, isn’t it just a little early for Christmas? I mean at certain stores there is already more Christmas stuff for sale than there is Halloween and Autumn stuff. Seriously, I even saw fruitcake (mmmmmm, fruuuuuuit caaaaaaake. MMMMM, in all its nutty goodnesss) for sale at the big bulk place that is housed in a warehouse and sells its own pizza. I could handle beginning the Christmas season in November, but not the last few weeks of September, although I will admit for the record because I am honest that I did purchase a Sinatra Christmas album last year in early October. OK, and I did download a really cool version of Steve Lawrence and Edie Gormet (yeah, I said it! That’s how I roll) singing ‘Sleigh Ride’ yesterday, but I really don’t think that’s the point here. Are retailers pushing us to the point that Labor Day through Memorial Day will become the ‘holiday’ season?

I personally have always pictured fall as a big Thomas Kincaide or Charles Wysocki painting (are you impressed with my artistic knowledge? If not, then I say Renoir to you all!!). In these paintings, pumpkins abound, there are lots of shades of red, orange, yellow and brown and there is smoke from chimneys wafting into the air. Let’s contrast that scene to the one on my street. Some lawns are brown and dead from the excessive heat, trees are green, kids are playing outside until 8 at night in shorts, smoke wafts into the air…from BBQs and the setting sun and clouds are a beautiful orangeyish…from the smog. Oh and there are those wavy heat lines coming up from the sidewalk. If I could paint this scene, or anything other than stick figures whose proportions are way off, I would title it ‘September, October, April or May-August and Sometimes November…Just Take Your Pick.’

So no matter where you may live or be reading this, I wish you a Happy Fall or Happy Autumn (depending on your preference). Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to put on more sun tan lotion and get back to my hammock because my sun steeped ice tea should be ready soon. Hmmm, I wonder where I put that Sinatra Christmas album…