The falling leaves drift by my window…

We’re knocking on the door of my favourite season – autumn/fall. September has just started, and I find myself disturbed to hear rumours of an Indian summer. This is hardly unusual for this time of year – indeed, the opening game of the rugby season was often a time I’d find myself unexpectedly bathed in sunshine in the stands, to be pulling off the extra layers while putting on the sunglasses. And, usually, I welcome it. But this year I’m ready to hunker down, so I’m giving the weather forecast a dirty look.

I’ve already started to wrap a lightweight scarf around my neck each morning, and it won’t be long before I pull on a woolen cardigan, some thick socks or fluffy slippers. I’m preparing to put the big quilt back on the bed and to change the bedlinen to fleece. I’ve already had my cozy blanket pulled around me in the living room when it gets a little chilly of an evening.

It seems reasonable to surmise the challenges of the past few months are making me crave comfort, and that’s cranked my homing instinct up to the max. If we had a fireplace (rather than just a lintel), I’d be laying in the firewood. The flat next door (which is currently empty) appears to have an open fireplace – if it wasn’t so ridiculously small, I’d be positively envious and hankering to move across the hallway 🙄

One bonus of the coming colder weather is that, having gotten rid of all my boots when I thought enlarged feet were to be my new normal, my new well behaved and normal sized feet could be getting spoiled with new boots – which is definitely something to look forward to. The only question is how will I choose which ones to replace first – the biker boots, the sleek riding boot style, the casual and chunky boots with a cozy lining, the over-the-knee suede dressy option… and that’s before I add in ankle boots. I foresee a lot of browsing before any decisions are made – bliss 🙂

So Indian summer aside, I’m leaning in to the fact that I’ll soon be enjoying Himself’s warming stews with cheese stuffed dumplings, homemade soups accompanied by crusty bread, fruit crumble with an indulgent trickle of cream or custard. Usually it’s the festive season I start pining for, but this year it’s definitely autumn. Not that I won’t enjoy working out how to add festive decorations to our new apartment when the time comes – but that’s more of a cherry on top rather than the whole sundae. Roll on the falling leaves…

How do you feel as we move into the later months of the year? Do you prefer the warmer or cooler seasons? What aspects in particular do you look forward to?

© Debs Carey, 2025

39 thoughts on “The falling leaves drift by my window…”

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  1. Autumn is my favorite season for sure. Love your descriptions of pulling out all the warm essentials…I’m dreaming of the moment I can pull my flannel sheets out of a moving box and put them on my real bed! Also all my soft turtleneck sweaters… sigh. Why not just get ALL the new boots all at once and raise a glass of something special to the season 🙂

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  2. Deb, I’d love to go for one big mega boot shop, but my bank account couldn’t take the strain! I may wangle one additional pair from Himself as a combined Christmas/birthday gift. Unfortunately, I have expensive tastes in boots…

    I’m sending wishes that your lovely bed and flannel sheets be available sooner rather than later and that way you can properly celebrate your favourite season.

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  3. Fall is definitely my favourite season as well, although I may not be quite as ready for it mentally as you are! Bring on the cooler weather and glorious fall colours!!

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  4. Jane, I have to agree that the colours aren’t here yet. Indeed, I wonder whether we’ll get much in the way of a display this year after the high temperatures of the summer have caused an early leaf fall – leaving a very dried and prune like carpet for the heavy rain we’re now experiencing. But I imagine you get some gorgeous displays there… can you feel my envy? 😉

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  5. Autumn is my favorite, but in SoCal it’s always the hottest time of year. I am traveling to New England and Canada in a couple weeks, though, and will hopefully experience actual fall weather. Can’t wait. Now, what are cheese stuffed dumplings?

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  7. Ours haven’t really started turning yet, so we don’t know what effect the very dry summer may have on them, but we definitely live in fabulous fall colour territory! 😊

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  9. I don’t know the first thing about cheese stuffed dumplings but I’m looking forward to you eating them. Sound scrumptious. I like cooler temps better than hotter ones. I like lower humidity, I like colorful leaves, I like layering my clothes, and I like apples. They are my theme for autumn.

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  10. September and October are my favorite months too. September because it’s still nice and warm here (but not too hot) but the tourists are gone and the kids are back in school so beaches, stores and restaurants are much less peopley. October because I love Halloween and all the creepy stuff that goes with it. In SoCal, we don’t get the beautiful fall colors, though… I do envy that.

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  11. Your title brings to mind a gorgeous song. I guess that’s what you intended. Nat King Cole? I also like a piano version.

    When we were overseas, I didn’t think to miss the fall. When we returned, I rediscovered its almost unbelievable beauty. The fall color is more vibrant now than when I was younger. People have been planting a greater variety of trees.

    You seem to have had a huge boot wardrobe. Since I stopped wearing high heels, I tend to wear only two or three pairs of shoes and several kinds of slippers. I have a couple pairs of boots I’ll have to try out and see if they still feel good.

    Fruit crumble. That sounds good. I think I’ll make a rice pudding tomorrow using coconut milk, raisins, and lots of cinnamon.

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  12. First off, what’s a lintel?

    You had me at cheese. The dumpling is just a happy bonus!

    Autumn is far and away my favorite season, followed by winter. So, in case you hadn’t surmised yet, I am definitely a cold weather fan. Bring it on!

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  13. You do Jane. I’ve only once visited New England and went specifically for the fall colours and it was glorious. We get very little red in our leaves which I think is the missing component.

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  14. Chicken (stew) and dumplings is my personal favourite. I shall look into a crockpot recipe, as I suspect ours might be making more of an appearance once Himself goes back to work next month. He’s been enjoying spending time in the kitchen during his lengthy period off work, so has been indulging himself by doing everything the long way.

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  15. You’ve hit all the high points of autumn there Ally 🙂 If you’ve not tried a cheese stuffed dumpling, I can strongly recommend them. Himself says they’re very easy to do and you can change things up by trying them with different cheeses.

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  16. Any time which is less peopley has to be a winner Janis. I’ve become less comfortable with crowds since Covid – not because I’m worried about catching anything, but because I enjoyed not being crushed. I’ve a good friend who goes all out with Halloween every year and look forward to seeing what she’s done each year. Since we started living in apartments, we’ve not had any visitations and also no outdoor space to decorate which wasn’t shared and subject to regulations. I used to enjoy it a lot when my daughter was young.

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  17. Yes Nicki, I’m a big Nat King Cole fan, but my father was a lover of a tinkly jazz piano, so I agree with you about the piano version of that song 🙂 Yes, fall colours came late to my life as wewll, but I now lean in to the joy.

    I’ve long loved boots. In the early days, some of them were high heeled, but the ones I recently gave away were all flat. I feel the cold and don’t get on with tights which is the practical reason (or is it excuse) how I ended up being a boot wearer.

    Your rice pudding sounds lovely. I’ve already suggested it to Himself to see if he fancies giving it a try. We’ve had a lot of crumble of late, so I suspect he could be ready for a new option.

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  18. My use of it was intended to indicate the wooden beam which goes above our (closed off) fireplace which also forms a shelf. Technically it’s a means of support and goes above any type of opening (door, window, fireplace).

    I’d never had a dumpling (let alone a cheese stuffed one) before I met Himself. He wooed me on the basis of his baking skills, but this was a (big) bonus 🙂

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  23. Andy always believes in the long way, even when it’s hot and the crockpot a) heats up the kitchen less than the stove top, and b) is powered for free by our solar panels (the stove runs on natural gas).

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  24. How can anyone love the harbinger of dark wet days? Dark at 4pm in December as you know as a fellow UK resident. But what a fabulous summer we’ve had! The only good thing about autumn is the arrival of migratory birds, like our lovely Brent geese

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  26. This post made me feel all warm and cozy!

    I’m all ready for fall and winter. I love the cooler weather, warm meals, cozy blankets and bedding, and comfy clothes. I also love the slower pace of this season—shorter days, less rushing around, even the occasional canceled plans because of snow. I used to dread this time of year, but now that I’m older, I’ve really learned to appreciate it. 💜

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  27. He’s right (of course) that the long way is generally best, especially with free solar powered electricity. I was reading a story recently where some apartment buildings in Germany have been given permission to put solar panels on their balconies and those who’ve done so have been able to reduce their bills by 25%. Have vaguely considering the fold-up versions as we get a huge amount of sun in our back garden, but I think they can only be hooked up to power banks so not entirely convenient for us to use. I may set Himself’s big brain onto the puzzle before he returns to work next month.

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  28. Caroline, as I’ve aged, I find high temperatures difficult, so it was no big progression to loving the snuggle factor of the cooler months.

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  29. We’ve not given in quite yet. I’ve just broken out the big guns (fleeces, blankets, quilts) and that’s been sufficient so far. After the mega increases to energy bills a couple of years back, we’ve had to be careful.

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  30. Kari, you’ve got it in one. I’m finding myself ready to pull the curtains of an evening – last night the wind was howling and the rain had been fairly persistent through the day, so it was a lot nicer to cut all that out and snuggle down. Even Himself – who doesn’t generally feel the cold – requested a blanket for his lap 🙂

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  33. LA, that’s a bonus I’d forgotten all about ever since moving out to the stick and away from London. Fortunately there’s a reasonable selection in our newest close big town with both theatre and gallery. I’ve been to the latter a couple of times, but yet to venture to the theatre – thanks for the reminder to check out their programme.

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  36. Summers were best when I was a kid, but I have switched to loving Fall the most, too. I enjoyed your article, but I want to know more about how you shrunk your enlarged feet. I had to go up two sizes because mine got all puffy.

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  37. Earl, I tried pretty much everything I could think of (or find online). After I discovered that I was deficient in Vitamin B12, I had a sequence of injections to top up my levels, and it was after they finished that my feet went back to normal size for the first time in a couple of years. Sadly, as my B12 levels have declined, they are swelling up again so I’m going to be re-visiting the best method for keeping it topped up with my new doctors. Perhaps you could get your B12 level checked as Google reports that it’s a deficiency which is more common in men than women.

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