Tags
#california, #fall, #falldecorations, #familiar, #festival, #festivals, #HarborSprings, #home, #homesick, #hometour, #lansing, #michigan, #mums, #pumpkin, #pumpkins, #pumpkinspice
When I lived in Michigan, my favorite season was the spring because it marked an end to the cold, monochrome white and a time when everything came back to life. Conversely, I dreaded fall in Michigan, especially that first leaf of changed color that told me that everything I loved would soon be ending, and I would soon be back to trying to find a way to keep warm in a world of white.
In California, I haven’t really missed Michigan until recently. Oh, I missed the huge kitchen in the house I once had, my writing room, and my yard, but I didn’t really miss any seasons until this year. This year, as fall comes upon us, I find myself missing things that I never really thought of as special when I lived in Michigan. I guess I took them for granted.
Mostly, I miss everything pumpkin spice flavored. Sure, they have everything pumpkin spice flavored out here in California as well, but it’s different. A pumpkin spice coffee in Michigan is not only a taste, but it’s something to warm you when the days turn crisply cool. It’s a scent that goes with the scent of fallen, wet leaves. It’s a scent that I smell emanating from not only my kitchen but from a candle as I curl up by a crackling fire and watch the Hallmark fall movies as the days grow shorter.
Fall is the beginning of Baking Season in Michigan. It’s a time when people can turn on their ovens again because the hot summer is over. It’s a time when the city yards containing gardens overflow with fruits of the season. It’s a time when things like tomato pie, caprese salad, pumpkin cheesecake, pear tartlets, stuffed zucchini, apple strudel, roasted beet and feta salad, and even homemade salted caramel sauce would flow from my kitchen.
Fall is a time when visits to cider mills and pumpkin farms happen on weekends. It’s a time when there are pumpkin-growing contests and a time where kids start eyeing pumpkins to become jack-o-lanterns. It’s a time when Halloween is spent sitting on my front porch and handing out candy to 300 well-costumed kids as the adults sit and visit with a glass of mulled wine or hot cider.
Fall is a time when East Lansing comes to life as students return to MSU and tailgates dominate weekends. Company often comes to town for the games, and the town is overflowing with excited people.
If you’re not at a football game, there’s a good chance you’re raking leaves into huge piles that kids and pets jump into. Believe me, I never thought I’d reminisce about raking leaves with frozen fingers as the last leaf would drop Thanksgiving weekend. Okay, I’d forgotten the frozen fingers part, so I’m missing that part a little less right now.
Fall is the optimal time to take a drive through The Tunnel of Trees, one of the most beautiful drives in the state. The trees are aflame, and the sunlight has changed from the brilliance of summer to a softer, more golden glow that bounces off the leaves.
Fall has always been a time when the Westside Neighborhood Home Tour happens. Touring through classic 1920s homes decorated for fall and each home revealing its own story has always been one of my favorite events. Much of the neighborhood would have their front porches decorated with hay bales, pumpkins, pots of mums, and even cornstalks that would welcome visitors.
Finally, there are the fall festivals in Old Town, most markedly Oktoberfest. People stroll the streets that are decorated with stalks of corn tied to lampposts, hay bales, mums, and pumpkins that welcome you to each shop. Under a large tent, you can sample all kinds of adult beverages as a band plays late into the night.
None of these things apply in California. The air probably won’t become crisp until December. I have not seen a pumpkin farm or apple orchard here. There are no cider mills offering fresh apple cider or pick-your-own apples. I haven’t heard of any festivals. I haven’t seen decorated front porches. I haven’t seen a home tour here, and the only forests aflame are really actually aflame. Last year, I sat outside for hours waiting for trick-or-treaters. I finally had to flag down three big kids walking by (who kinda scared me) to give them candy.
So, yes, I can go out and buy a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks in California, but, as I’ve explained, it doesn’t bring with it all of the excitement that drinking a pumpkin spice latte in Michigan brings. Maybe it’s time to go home.
May you all find your own “pumpkin spice” and relish it this fall.
Did you know that Leviathan, Book 3 in the Harbor Secret Series, is now available in audiobook format? Woot!
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