People who live in moderate climates sometimes find it peculiar, and even annoying, how we of the northern climates so often let our thoughts and comments go to weather. Really, it's quite easy to explain and hard to understand if you've never experienced submersion in a harsh environment or lived where the seasons come and go with pageantry. I get it. That's where I live. And as bad as it can get it can also get just that good.
Autumn is one of those seasons of major transition. If climate were a stage play we'd be headed for the intermission. Everything changes. People's energy levels change, pounds start to creep back on as the summer activities get packed away, the wardrobe changes require a costume hand.
The weight gain that frequently accompanies the coming of cold weather is becoming easier for me to understand. I didn't buy it at first. Many people here in Michigan remain active indoors in the winter with basketball leagues, volleyball, indoor tennis, dance. It requires more effort but they're out there-- or in there, I should say. No, it's not activity. It's diet.
The evening before last I came home from the office to the wonderful aroma of a pumpkin cake. I've never had a pumpkin cake before-- but within a couple hours of getting home I'd had the better part of a third of one. The fall and winter menus are fabulous: Chili and stew and chowders and roasted this and that. Adios dinner salad, hello hearty soup. But that's just the entrees. Now comes pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, this murderous pumpkin cake, gingerbread, ginger cookies, and a landslide of holiday cookies just weeks ahead. Good God, take cover! Someone pass the Crestor!!
Maybe all these fall treats are less appealing in the warmth of the southwest. Maybe I should move for my own good. I'll give some thought to heading out to Arizona...as soon as I polish off that pumpkin cake!
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