Unbelievable.

For my fellow Southerners, this is a rare sight. An open door. A screen letting in air that is only about 74 degrees, maybe even less! Usually we sit cloistered tight in our air conditioned houses complaining bitterly about the heat, unable to take our children outside to play because the heat combined with the mosquitoes means we might as well be living in Antarctica for all the outside friendliness.

But yesterday, just like in the Wizard of Oz or in Mary Poppins, the wind shifted and a cool breeze has washed over the land. For those of us who dream longingly of winter and snow and cool weather and sweaters and boots, it is like the wonderfully metallic smell of snow on the air before it ever arrives. It hints of fall. Real fall, yellowed leaves swirling on the 2 lane road as the passing motion of cars whips them into a frenzy, pumpkins and mums, bales of hay and straw, bags of mini-Snickers and M&Ms selling for astronomic prices, pots of chili and vegetable stew, the smell of burning leaves, the first wonderful smell that permeates your house when you turn on the heater for the first time all year...these are a few of my favorite things.

Ah, Autumn....you are welcome here.