Florida Fall

Halloween is over and done with for another year. Quickly now...discard that grossly deformed pumpkin from the front porch and toss its rapidly decaying carcass in the trashcan. Time is wasting. There's a decided nip in the air that most assuredly heralds the advent of the leaves changing into a pallet of fall colors. The warm summer breezes have given way to sweaters and scarfs being exhumed from their closet lodging and the ground is covered more frequently with a light coating of misty frost.

Wait a minute! What am I talking about? This is Florida! The only frost-like substance we encounter this time of the year is on a cake! There are no changes in the color of the leaves. They cling stubbornly still to the trees that bore them and will not drop until next spring when new foliage has lost its patience to burst forth and flourish. The only noticeable change in color is occurring on my front yard, as the grass transcends from a vibrant green to a dormant brown. My lawnmower appreciates the reprieve.

No, there's not much difference in this sub-tropical part of the world when summer gives way to fall. We're still keeping a wary eye pealed for a late season tropical wave that may defy common sense and develop into an unwanted and most certainly unwelcome calamity. The chances of such an event occurring diminishes with each passing November day. But we've all learned to expect the unexpected and keep the emergency supplies well stocked and easily in reach.

The only thing in my neighborhood that remotely resembles a typical fall in cooler climes to the north is the copious amount of acorns that are dropping like a spring rain from the oak trees. The squirrels that populate my backyard have come out of hibernation from the summer's heat and are feasting on this seemingly inexhaustible bounty. Their constant chatter calls me awake each morning and I delight in witnessing their determined enterprise to gorge themselves on the nutty offering that awaits within each discovered treasure.

This is fall in southwest Florida. Neighborhoods give more time to exchange pleasantries and gossip across fences. The air is filled with the joyous sounds of bicycling children and the barks of their ever-fateful canine companions. The streets before earlier sunsets are populated with couples and families taking leisurely walks to nowhere in particular. Yes, fall does bring on noticeable changes here in St. Petersburg. The air seems cleaner and more invigorating. We now linger longer to breath it in deeply and give momentary thanks that unlike the fictitious frozen community of Lake Woebegone to our north, our men are indeed good looking, our women are stronger, and all of our children are far above average.