Autumn Thoughts

I’m not sure if I had a residual taco hangover from Tuesday or if it was the influenza vaccination I got yesterday afternoon, but last night I was asleep on my feet! Today, we are feeling the effects of the remnants of Hurricane Noel. (Thanks to Ben the roofer, we remain warm and dry.) Here in Central Massachusetts, we aren’t getting the pounding that coastal New England is feeling, but we are grateful to have our aquifers recharged. I wish we could share the wealth of Noel with the Southeastern and the Southwestern U.S. Both areas are hungry for rain and the situations remain desperate.

The unseasonably warm weather seems to have passed and now we are feeling as if this is autumn in earnest. We even had to turn the heat on. But since this is. after all, November that seems reasonable! With a nip in the air, planning for Thanksgiving also seems a reasonable thing to do. But the Christmas carols playing in the stores while the Halloween costumes and candy are still in their markdown bins, strikes me as aggressive or crazy or both! Please let us get through Thanksgiving first, O.K.?

And, as long as I’m on a topic that makes me feel a bit disgruntled, it’s time for my bi-annual complaint about moving the clocks backwards and forwards. Tomorrow morning at 2:00 a.m., we have to “fall back” an hour. I say, let’s pick a time. Let’s set a time and then let it be. A gentle, daily change is so easy and natural - no jarring lurch in either direction, nor abrupt disruption to our delicate internal clocks.

Tomorrow, the winds will have died down, the rain will be long gone. The clocks will have fallen back and I/we will adjust. As the cooler weather becomes the norm, culinary thoughts will turn slow baked, slow roasted meals that will fill the house with tempting aromas. Recipes for soups and stews will be reviewed or reinvented as the windows begin to steam up and the leaves fall down. I love autumn - no matter what time the sun sets.