This month our group post is about fall in Maine. Whether it’s the brilliance of our leaves, the change in weather that tempts us out for fall walks, apple picking, or farmer’s markets, or its the shortening of the days, the changing light, and the gloom of impending winter, fall has an impact on all of us.

Kate Flora: I am always very much on the fence about fall. I love the cooler weather that tempts me out to take more walks. I love the bright bags of apples at the farmers market, the new varieties of squash to explore in my culinary activities, and the often dazzling fall sunsets. I don’t like the way it turns dark so early and the end of my plunges into the sea.

When I reflect back on growing up on a Maine farm, I think about the rush to get vegetables harvested before the frost. About our apple stealing expeditions on the backroads near home. There were many abandoned farms with apple trees. We would gather different varieties of apples to fulfill my mother’s dictum that you couldn’t make a good apple pie without at least five varieties of apples. Fall meant more evenings prepping vegetables for what was always called “the long, cold winter.” Stirring applesauce. Canning. Making pickles. The shed floor would be lined with newspapers and there would be rows of ripening tomatoes and mounds of squash. The coated egg baskets full of potatoes and onions would be hung up in the cellar. The shelves in the storage area in the cellar would gradually fill with jars of canned food.

Matt Cost: Fall is the best season of the year. Cool nights with mild days work exceedingly well for me. Give me 40° at night and 64° during the day and I am happy. Foliage is certainly a bonus that brings out the vibrant inner life of Mother Nature. It also

happens to be football season, which now is not much more than an excuse to sit on the couch on Sunday and do nothing. Which is pretty fabulous.  Autumn is also host to two amazing New England crime conferences, Crime Wave in September, and Crime Bake in November. The only pit-fall of fall is the shortening days. To me, that just begs more sleeping time.

Write on fall!

Kait Carson: As an escaped Floridian, fall gets my vote for best season of the year. Nights cool, sometimes enough to light the first fire in the woodstove. Days are mild, the humidity is low, and there’s a taste to the air. It’s a heady combination of wine and apples. Just glorious. The scenery isn’t too shabby either.

John Clark: I’m painting a visual picture of fall from my perspective. It has always been my favorite season for multiple reasons.

1-Most tourists have gone home.

2-I start many fall days in shorts and a sweatshirt, then switch to a t-shirt around noon.

3-The Patriots are playing (and hopefully winning). Their games are the ONLY thing I watch on TV.

4-If the Goddess is smiling, the Red Sox are in the post season (like this year)

5-Skies seem bluer in the fall.

6-Reading on our back deck is pleasurable, particularly when I look up and see eagles soaring overhead.

7-Mist fills valleys, following rivers and streams like a supernatural dancer.

8-Pumpkins, which used to be left to rot all too often, are now used in many things. While I’m not a fan of pumpkin spice in stuff, I really like it in bagels, muffins, and bread.

9-Watching leaves fall, ever so slowly and gently (making for a challenging, but rewarding photo opportunity), while milkweed seeds float ever higher on their way to a new destiny, are hypnotic and relaxing.

10-Finding abandoned apple trees that have unique flavors and are often worm-free.

11-Ramping up for deer season. While this may be my last due to health issues, I’m still excited about going into the woods.

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: Here in the Western Maine mountains there are already as many leaves on the ground as there are on the trees, possibly because we are in a serious drought. We’re being very careful about water use for fear our well might run dry. That said, there’s nothing like being able to walk out onto the back deck and see fall colors, especially on a day when the temperature is in the upper 70s. Of course at night it goes down to near freezing. Typical Maine weather: wait a minute and it will change! The entire month of September has been a roller coaster weather-wise and the forecast for the first week of October promises to be the same: 80 one day and a high of 60 the next. Close to freezing at night . . . or not. And NO RAIN IN SIGHT!

Rob Kelley: The view from my writing desk includes several ragged spruces, a swamp maple, and some ferns. When the swamp maple and the ferns turn to rust, it’s a harbinger of cooler nights and mild days, and it’s my absolute favorite time of year in Maine. It’s perfect sleeping weather in the cool nights, but no jacket required in the mild days. And, while I was only a teacher for a little while, I was a student far longer, and so still think of fall as the actual beginning of the year. After such a crazy summer, foggy, rainy, then hot, then dry, this fall has been an ideal beginning to my year.