Extracts from Autumn

Here in Florida there is little to see that actually looks Autumny (new word!). We don't get the changing colors of leaves and the amazing glowing hue they create when the sun's rays hit them just right as it sets. We don't have the apple orchards and pumpkin patches. Okay, maybe there are a few. The leaves that do fall take forever to actually fall, when a a chill actually comes along a northern wind.

So looking around, nothing in Florida really screams AUTUMN! Therefore, the solution at the present time is to bring Autumn to life by other means. Scents. Clothes. Colors. Foods. For example, I suddenly have the hankering for pumpkin and cinnamon everything. Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin seeds (roasted and salted), cinnamon sprinkled on my coffee. Then comes the urge to cook more. I pull out some of my favourite cool weather recipes like onion thyme soup and black bean & corn quinoa. Then it will feel more like Autumn around here!

Then I buy this hand soap by Method (their products are great) that smells like vanilla chai, which has spices like clove, allspice, and cinnamon so it smells quintessentially Autumn. And that smell makes me want to drink coffee all day and take long walks out on a perfect chilly day, with leaves crunching under my boots.

I know I am a bit crazy about Autumn. I can't help it. It is the start of cool seasons and these are the days I live for in Florida.

So Autumn, leaves, and the colors of this time of year are extracted into my everyday, and people like me get excited at the possibility of the weather they represent.