Fall Favorites

Oh how I love this time of year! Fall has to be my favorite season, hands down. It is truely a season for all of the senses. Think about it: the trees change colors (sight), the leaves crunch under your feet (sound), the temperatures fall (touch), the appples are harvested (taste), and my favorite...the smell of fall.

What smell, you may wonder. Although not as well characterized as the lilacs of spring, or honeysuckles in the summer, there is a much more subtle smell that comes in the fall. In fact, it's hard for me to even describe it or attribute it to any one thing. Perhaps it's some combination of scents released by fall foliage, the harvests in the fields, or the trees preparing for the ensuing winter (shedding their leaves and nuts). I would even propose that the cooler weather changes the way our noses receive and interpret these smells. Whatever the source, I know it when I smell it, and it brings an instant smile to me face. I've heard is said that a scent can trigger a memory better than any sight or sound. If that's the case, I am grateful for the positive experiences I've had in autumns past that I get to remember each year at this time.

No one can deny the beauty of the trees this time of year. I can recall some of my favorites in the places I have lived in the past: the brilliant reds and oranges at Mt. Tabor ballpark in New Albany (where I had my senior pictures taken), the amazing color palate along Hwy 46 from Terre Haute to Columbus, and the bright yellows near the sledding hill in Country Club Manor of Rochester. Having recently moved to a new city, I have the opportunity in some ways to experience fall for the first time again. "I wonder what colors the trees will turn here?" Luckily for me Pennsylvania is a land of trees, as noted by its name (sylvan=trees). I know that if/when I leave this city I will take with me (among other things) the memories of this season, just as I have done time and time again.