The official start of fall was a couple weeks ago, and although September in Portland is usually glorious in the very way that you imagine it would be when you hear the term “Indian summer,” the last week or ten days of September were often downright chilly around here. We’re lucky in that our house is well-insulated, relatively new construction, and (being a townhouse) doesn’t have many walls actually exposed to the outside air. So keeping the windows closed has been enough for us to keep the house warm without turning on the heat yet. But I’ve heard more than one Portlander grumble that there’s NO WAY they’re turning on the heat before October. I think they were probably happy to have the calendar change a few days ago.
It’s definitely fall-like today, although it’s dry. Walking through the farmer’s market today the stands were all pumpkins and apples, and the whole thing just felt like a New England autumn (minus the color). I bought peaches from our favorite stand on their last week at the market, so I’ll get two more batches of peach gelato out of them to extend summer by a bit, but I also bought enough apples for a couple of apple pies – which is THE autumn dessert as far as I’m concerned. So even the desserts in the house are overlapping seasons.
In a way, I feel like I missed out on summer this year (despite spending six weeks in a place where it was hotter than it usually gets around here), so I’m unusually bummed about it being fall already. Normally it’s my favorite season. I so dislike my summer wardrobe and thoroughly love my fall and winter clothing that I’m usually pretty happy to see the high temperatures fade so I can bring my sweaters and boots out of the back of the closet again. But this year, I wouldn’t mind another couple weeks of warm weather just to make it seem less like time is whizzing by at breakneck speed.