October

Here in Memphis, it sometimes feels like we plunge from the middle of summer straight into winter. But if fall has a month, it is the one that just began.

Though I'm more of a springtime person myself, I'm also an optimist, so here are a few reasons I'm looking forward to the month of October:

• jackets being of use again
• the smell of fires in fireplaces drifting through the neighborhood
• hot tea on chilly mornings
• Tour d'Esprit (which was this weekend!)
• Poldark on Masterpiece
• reading ghost stories around Halloween
• Halloween
• the crunch of leaves beneath your feet
• the sound of wind through newly-bare branches
• waking up at your normal time, but it's dark, so you feel like you've secretly got a jump on the rest of the world
• cool, steady rains
• runs that leave you feeling strong
• houseplants coming back indoors
• the quiet as lawnmowers are retired for the season
• the sudden lack of humidity
• pumpkins
• long-sleeved T-shirts
• the feel of change in the air
• the way the sky looks on gray days
• lighting candles in the evening
• the sound of the last crickets, holding on
• layered clothing
• sleeping with the windows open
• Rhodes Homecoming (no one goes on the off years, but we all reach out every year to ask each other anyway)
• the musty warmth of turning on the heater for the first time
• clear nights when you can see the stars
• patio weather
• spiderwebs
• this line being true for the first time this year: "We are nearer to spring than we were in September."