Here we are, waiting for our lovely fall weather to "normalize" and turn cooler.  It's hard to believe it's already October.  Used to be we expected our first snowfall during the first week in October.  October is "bird hunting" season, or partridge season, for those of you who may not have grown up here.  It's a time of tromping through brown pastures and along tree-lined roads where there were trees with berries or apples; of being startled when the loud whirr of beating wings announced the departure of a partridge; and sometimes the loud report of a shotgun which more often than not leaves the partridge unharmed.  

It wasn't so much shooting (or missing) the birds that I remember so fondly - it was the long walks in familiar pastures, visiting our favorite apple trees and gathering as many to take home as shirt tails tied together would hold.  It was the smell of the decaying leaves and the warmth followed by the sudden chill when the sun  dropped behind big spruces and we knew it was time to head for home.  That's why this October, even though the leaves are the right colors and are beginning to collect along roadsides and in maple groves, the air hasn't had that early morning nippiness, and there's been no need to scrape frost off windshields yet, so it just doesn't seem right to me that it's the first week in October.  

The robins seem to be congregating on schedule, the jays are screaming their objections at squirrels competing for nuts and berries, and the deer are visiting their favorite apple trees every night, so the world around me is definitely responding to shorter days.  I keep telling myself that instead of acting like it's summer and there are endless warm days ahead, I'd better make good use of the freaky weather to get everything tucked in and ready for winter because the real fall is lurking just around the corner.

There's another sure sign it's fall - the Autumn on the Green in Danville this Sunday.  It's a great way to celebrate autumn, and you'll find all kinds of crafts, food and people there, and I know you'll have a great time.  I'm hoping it will help me get real about fall this year . . . !