Autumn has no favorites!

 Today’s writing prompt is What is your favorite thing about Autumn?

I think the better question would be what don’t I love about autumn.

In Florida we don’t have the dramatic change in leaves like the north does. We do have some.  It’s not the change of the leaves that captures my attention the most though. People that say we don’t get changes of season are not really looking. Florida has a raw beauty to it but the seasons do change here.  We might not get snow but we do get cold, and we do get hot. We get a lot of hot.

I love being outdoors. I don’t however love the heat that Florida’s  “Spring” and Summer bring. Autumn is my time to soak it up. The light is different, clearer, brighter, cleaner than it is at any other time. There is a freshness that I just can’t explain.  It even has a fresh clean crisp smell to it. It almost feels alive.

What some of you don’t know is I have multiple chronic illness’s. In the Summer , in the heat, being outside takes a lot out of me. I start to miss the outside by mid-July.  With chronic illness’s it is easy to fall into depression. When I am not outside regularly, I walk the line between depression and not very carefully. It is very easy for me to fall at this time.

In Fall the temperatures are just right for me. Typically the temperature doesn’t get below 65 and doesn’t go higher than 90.  70 to 75 is about perfect for me.  This is the time that I can spend hours and hours outside. Reading in the shade, walking the trails around our neighborhood. With the temps at this range my joints and muscles tend to be the happiest. This is when I really feel like I thrive.

The sun goes from blazing hot humid and miserable to hot dry and has an almost baking heat to it. I love it!  It feels wonderful on my joints. With Fibromyalgia heat can be helpful if it is the right kind of heat.  A dry heat is perfect for me.  I do get cold easily but I can handle being cold much better than I handle being hot.  The heat that we get in Fall is the perfect mix for both my muscle pain and my joint pain. I really just thrive over all. It is hard to say specifically why.

Orange brown russet red and even some greens, these are my preferred colors.  To me these colors are very grounding and bring a lot of comfort. The sky comes alive with colors as the sun sets. The way the light hits the tops of the trees and highlights the orange and yellow and red leaves, yes even in Florida.  Not long ago I would have been in with the group that says Florida has two seasons hot and hotter, and we don’t have changing leaves. That is another thing that having to slow down due to chronic pain/illness has brought me. I notice the small things.  Sometimes it is just one tree that is changing. One tree that is colorful in the midst of all the green.

The food that is in harvest is some of my favorites. Squash , apples,pumpkin pie, all these things are made better with ice cream. Okay well maybe not the squash but it IS fabulous in soup! I have a serious addiction to squash soup! The smell of fresh apples baking, pumpkin pie fresh out of the oven, even caramel dip’s rich aroma for the apples. Apple bread and hot cocoa can do a lot to right the wrongs at the end of the day.

So you see there is just not one thing about Autumn that is my favorite. Actually I can’t think of a single thing I don’t love about Autumn.

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