Autumn in N. Florida

For many of you, autumn is a beautiful time of year, when the air is crisp and cold in the morning, geese are seen flying south, and the trees are bursting with all those beautiful colors. It's probably the time of year when you call out a service to clean your chimney, and afterwards, stack logs on the grate in preparation for a cozy night near the fire. Where you live, moms are probably going through their "winter clothes" boxes, pulling out long pants, long sleeves, coats and mittens.

I live in Florida. Autumn schmautumn. Where are my cold mornings? Where are my trees bursting with beautiful color? Sure, I have a fireplace, but it's run on gas for goodness sakes. And we don't have any gas! Do farts count? Because in that case we can set a bonfire in my family room. But anyway it would be no fun to sit around a roaring fire in a tank top and shorts with the a/c blasting. Ah, Florida in autumn. Dead palm fronds. Oh, joy!


I bet a lot of you have porches decorated with lots of pumpkins, corn stalks, Indian corn and bales of hay, right?



Well lucky you! I might be able to do something like this...


But that doesn't look very autumn-y does it? And truth be told, if I went out and bought some pumpkins right now, they would probably be a rotted pile of stinking pulp by Halloween, having sat in the hot Florida sun for two weeks.


Wouldn't want to roast those seeds now, would ya?

I guess I really shouldn't be complaining. After all, it's going down into the 60s tonight and the days have only been in the mid-80s. Almost time to break out the sweaters! See what I mean?


Tonight: A slight chance of sprinkles. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. East wind between 7 and 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Wednesday: A slight chance of sprinkles. Partly cloudy, with a high near 83. East wind between 7 and 14 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64. Northeast wind between 3 and 9 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming northeast between 5 and 8 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 63. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 65.



But in all sincerity, I really have enjoyed the winter months here in north Florida. Having come from the west coast where winter was a complete joke, being up here is almost as good as being in Georgia or South Carolina. Kind of. Sort of. Okay, not really. But, come November we should really start getting some cool days in the 50s and 60s, and some nights during the winter it will actually go down into the upper 20s. Now that I'm looking forward to!

I've spent 1-1/2 winters here in Saint Augustine now, and both I got through with nothing heavier than a zippered sweatshirt. But, because it is my habit to sit out on the back porch while emailing and blogging, I've decided I need something heavier this year. I actually ordered a jacket today! Can you see me bouncing up and down in anticipation of wearing it? I remember quite a few nights sitting out here, typing with numb fingers, so maybe I'll even get some gloves this year! Ooh, the excitement!


But you know what the best part of cold weather is? I don't have to shave my legs!!!!!!!! That's right. I can just let the hair grow into a bushy tangled mess and no one even knows! Bwaaaaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hell, maybe this year I'll strive to get the leg hair long enough to french braid. Now wouldn't that be fun?