It's September, but it's not fall.

It is officially the middle of September, but here in Texas, we are still stuck in summer. On the blogs I follow, such as DesignSponge and several others, they are blogging about fabulous fall stuff to wear, to decorate with, and to do. But I just can't get into it. I'm sweltering here. Temps are down slightly (highs in the low 90s rather than the low 100s), but I'm still wearing sandals. And will be for at least a while. The mosquitos are still biting with a vengeance. And I don't feel like cooking because it's too damn hot.


It's always been like this for me. When I was a child (and we didn't have air conditioning in our school), I would come out dressed for the first day of school in a fall outfit and my mother would have to send me to change because otherwise I would have passed out from the heat. And I would always protest to her that it was September. Which meant that it was FALL. And it was supposed to be COLD! But we lived in South Texas where it only began to cool off in late October, IF we were lucky.

High school was a nightmare. High school in Texas means football. I was in the band and for some unfathomable reason, our band uniforms were made of wool. Yes, you heard me. Wool. Wool pants with a fully lined wool jacket, overlaid by a wool overthinging that fit high around your neck. In Texas. And in September and October when temperatures were not in the 50s, but in the 80s. If we were lucky we may have gotten a cool front and nobody died of heat exhaustion at the game.


Over the years, I've somewhat made my peace with living in a part of the country that doesn't have a proper fall. But fall remains my favorite time of the year. When the first cold front blows in, I will be outside welcoming it with open arms. I will decorate my house with pumpkins and leaves. We will hold our annual pumpkin carving party at the end of October and luckily, this year it falls the day before Halloween, so everyone's pumpkin should be able to survive 24 hours without deteriorating into a mushy, moldy mess before Halloween night. Maybe one day I'll live in a part of the country where fall starts in September, not December and the leaves turn wonderful colors.

I can dream.