Fall is upon us here in Wisconsin…sort of. Fall means a lot of stuff is supposed to be falling, right? Temperatures, leaves, whatever.
Yes, the temperatures are falling, but they’re not even down to what’s been historically normal this time of year. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Warm enough to still wear shorts and t-shirts in the afternoon. The mornings are another story. Long pants and a light jacket for walking outdoors in the morning. Pretty soon I’ll have to add full socks to that too. The ankles will complain and let me know when that occurs. With the warm temps, some of the plants are confused. I cleaned out the dead leaves from the Stella d’Oro daylilies. They always give me a huge handful of nicely dry, long leaves. Great for a mulch, if I want. However, yesterday I walked past what had been a patch of dirt where the daylilies were. Now, there is a whole “head of green hair” thrusting up out of the ground again! Hey, guys, it’s not even close to spring! Luckily, that hasn’t happened with any of the other flowers. But the monkshood refuses to blossom in such warm temperatures. Maybe it’s time to dig ‘em up… (Will they hear that and put out some flowers? Nah. So, this morning, I did dig them up. Guess that’ll show ‘em.)
I’m waiting for the leaves to turn color. I know, I know, it’s still early for that. But between the lack of recent rain and the warm air, I wonder if one night, every single leaf will burst into color…and then…Whomp!…They’ll tumble to the ground before lunch. I love going out to ferret out that one sugar maple that is flaming away in some yard. Or trying to see if the oaks will do a different shade this year. So far, nothing. Every tree around is still summer green. One or two has dropped some leaves, but there’s been no mass exodus. Will we even get colors this year?? What did the Farmer’s Almanac say? Can’t remember. I do remember they said that this winter would be a doozy. Well, if we don’t get fall, how can we get winter, I ask you?
Lots of other stuff is falling. I go out to harvest the tomatoes from the diminishing vines and all I have to do is touch a tomato and it’ll plummet to the ground. I’ve learned to catch ‘em as they drop, so only a few of those tiny yellow ones have perished. Hickory nuts are falling. Sometimes right on my head. More often in the middle of the night. We have a hickory tree right over our bedroom roof. Makes for rude awakenings sometimes. But, then again, the squirrels are having a field day gathering, planting, digging up, moving, all that squirrel stuff. No time for play much anymore. They must know something we don’t.
I do wish fall would fall, not because I like to sleep with the window cracked open when it’s cold outside (I do), and not because I love winter (I do, especially now that I don’t have to go out in it unless I want to). What I really like is perusing my cookbooks for cold weather foods. Kabocha squash! Tater Tot casserole! Chicken chowder a la Uncle Butch! Casseroles (hot dishes to those of you on the other side of the fence)! Roulade! Homemade breads! Last-of-the-rhubarb pie! Oh my! And that’s just scratching the surface. Good ol’ comfort foods which stretch the pleasure clear into March.
In the meantime, right now, as the weather promises to cool off, even it really hasn’t yet, it’s time to take the battery out of the bike and cover it up. Well, maybe not quite yet, but the day is coming. The day is coming to make sure the gas can is full for the snowblower too. Come to think of it, time for my husband to change the oil in the snowblower, and call for the biannual tuneup of the lawn tractor. I know that’s on his calendar already. Not yet, though. We need it to chop up the leaves…if they ever come down.
Either way, don’t let your spirits fall. And you don’t have to wait until the temperatures tumble and the leaves leave. No time like the present to make…chili! Go for it!