The trouble with fall

[naomikritzer]

I mostly like fall, except for three things:

1. The knowledge that winter is coming, which I can mostly banish until it becomes inescapable reality.

2. The fact that I can't close any of the bedroom dresser drawers, because everyone needs access to both the short-sleeved stuff and the long-sleeved stuff.

3. The difficulty with menu planning. We plan menus by the week and I shopped last Thursday, when it was chilly and getting chillier and forecasts of warm weather in the future seemed implausible. So we're having split pea soup with smoked turkey, cooked in the crock pot, for dinner. This sounded really nice when it was 45 degrees and windy. It's currently 81 and muggy.

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

We have pretend-fall, mostly. The power of marketing compels us. ;) Last week, I made acorn squash and a pot roast, and then oatmeal spice cookies. And the temperature was in the high 80s. But somehow, I had to do it.

Actually, autumn is my favorite time of year, particularly as it's so fleeting down here (and winter isn't really winter, but summer is hell). Autumn means we can open the windows and turn off the air conditioner for several months. BLISS.

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

Looking at my handy lil weather widget it says showers & t-storms w/cooling temps all week. Gotta loooooove MiniSnowTah, Yah Betcha...

Sure you can.

[stargoatpdx.livejournal.com]

Here are the average highs and lows for each month (°F) from the Wikipedia entry for Portland, Oregon:

Jan -- 46 -- 37
Feb -- 50 -- 39
Mar -- 57 -- 41
Apr -- 62 -- 44
May -- 68 -- 50
Jun -- 74 -- 54
Jul -- 80 -- 58
Aug -- 81 -- 58
Sep -- 74 -- 55
Oct -- 63 -- 48
Nov -- 51 -- 42
Dec -- 46 -- 37

"Although it lies in the Marine west coast climate zone, Portland shows many characteristics of a Mediterranean climate."

Each person has their own preferences, of course, and I don’t mean to imply that Portland would be perfect or even adequate for everyone. But if ya dislike extreme temperatures...

Re: Sure you can.

[naomikritzer]

And see, personally, I spent a year in England an discovered that I dislike excessively moderate temperatures. Although it might be less unpleasant if it were sunny and pleasant every day instead of raining.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

I like fall a lot -- except when it rains, which in Toronto, sadly, it does quite often. After fifteen years here I'm still not entirely used to the idea of an autumn that lasts more than a few minutes: I enjoy it all through September and October, but by Halloween I'm getting cranky and demanding when it's going to quit raining and start to snow, already (answer: not till 25 December at the absolute earliest). I do love the multicoloured autumn leaves here, and the long run of chilly-but-not-bone-chilling weather before the grey, slushy misery of a Toronto winter sets in :P

To your points in autumn's disfavour I would add the annoyance factor of deciding whether to dress for the 5°C prevailing you leave for work at 7:15 a.m. or for the 25°C it will undoubtedly be by 4:00 p.m. -- whether, in other words, to freeze your tukhes off on the way to work or swelter all the way home while shlepping the jackets you and your offspring needed in the morning.