Fabulous Fall

I love fall!

Sure I love the leaves – the color, the crackle under your feet – the cool days and crisp nights.  But I love fall for a lot of other reasons.

I love a brisk walk under autumn skies piled high with purple clouds, blown by that northwest wind that brings Canada geese up from the Chesapeake to our pond and fields.  Feed corn is cut and threshed.  Soybeans are harvested.  Fields are bedded down; my garden awaits the spring.

Evenings fall soft and early. Lamps cast a warm glow, inside.  Fires upstairs and down warm the den and make the living room glow.   And food, glorious autumn food says home, family, friends.

My table is set carefully but not with china and crystal.  Fiesta ware brings the color of the leaves to my table.  Linen napkins rescued from my favorite thrift shop grace the table with fall colors, too.

Family and friends warm my heart as we sit down, together, to enjoy a meal made from foods harvested from my garden.   We revel in the rich fall flavors of one of my favorite Crescent Dragonwagon (yep, that’s her real name) recipes, butternut cabbage lasagna.  Oven-roasted brussel sprouts and warm bread fresh from the oven complement the rich flavors of the main course.   Warm apple cider and homemade pumpkin pie put the finishing touch on the meal.

Then the games begin.  Rummy Kube, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Banana Grams, it doesn’t matter which we choose because we know this wonderful, fall night will be filled with laughter and warmed by companionship and love.

That’s why I love the fall.