Speaking of fall

Despite the longstanding – and, truthfully, spot-on – advice to not write about the weather, it’s often the topic on everyone’s minds.

The weather and the seasons impact so much of what we do, from the clothes we choose to wear, to the activities on the calendar, to special menu items a restaurant might offer, to the tasks of life that demand to be tackled.

In many ways, the weather directs and dictates our every move. Is it too hot to grill out tonight? Is it too rainy to go to the ballgame? Is it too cold to wear shorts? What time will the sun rise tomorrow? Is it going to be humid today? When’s the first day of spring? How long until a full moon?

Of course, on top of many minds right now is the transition from summer to fall. With Labor Day in the past and football in full swing, the other joys of the autumn season aren’t far behind, whether you’re most looking forward to cooler temperatures, warmer clothes, color-changing leaves, pumpkin carving or pumpkin spice.

With this seasonal shift in mind, here’s what a few prominent names have to say about this time of year and many of the items and moods associated with it:

• “I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” –Henry David Thoreau
• “Autumn – the year’s last, loveliest smile.” –William Cullen Bryant
• “But I miss you most of all, my darling, when autumn leaves start to fall.” –Frank Sinatra
• “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus
• “Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground. And the trees are naked and lonely.” –Andrea Gibson
• “I notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
• “Of all the seasons, autumn offers the most to man and requires the least of him.” –Hal Borland
• “How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” -John Burroughs
• “Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” -George Eliot

What do you think? Which of these ideas speak to you? Are you a lover of autumn, or will you say a sad farewell to the Alabama heat?