Five days after the official beginning of fall, the state of Alabama is taking a deep breath. The temperature has finally condescended to inch below ninety degrees for a high, and we are loving it. Even the dogs have an extra spring in their step. Two of them opted to bake in the yard for about a half hour today before they wanted back in, which hasn’t happened since spring.
Fall and Halloween decorations are slowly appearing around town. However, no one is displaying real carved pumpkins yet. Even with our present fall temperatures, there is not a real pumpkin that has a chance of making it the 33 or 34 days left until Halloween in good shape.
Fall wreaths and fall colors are popular decorations; they add a pop of color to landscaping that has been devoid of flowers since spring, unless you live in a house with enough shade to grow azaleas. Spring is our big time for azaleas, but an increasing number of varieties bloom in the fall as well. Seeing the fall azalea blooms feels serendipitous; a little wink from the weather to remind us that, yes, we are in the South, and yes, the temperature has stayed too high for too long, but fall will arrive.
With Halloween decorations, I enjoy houses that go all out with a non-scary motif. Homeowners do lots of neat things with skeletons. Examples include skeletons sitting around campfires, toasting s’mores; skeletons in beach chairs toasting passersby with their beer of choice; and skeletons sitting on pool floaties in the front yard, waving. I also enjoy the houses in ritzy, sedate neighborhoods that decide to “do” Halloween. I’m not sure the sedate neighbors enjoy it that much, but I do.
Sadly, I have not yet trekked into the garage to find our box of Halloween decorations. I suspect it's hidden among the stacks of the other boxes that have yet to be unpacked. Our Halloween stuff is for indoor decoration. I have a few fall outdoor decorations, but maybe it is time for me to expand into the outdoor Halloween business.
Or maybe I’ll just continue to enjoy everyone else’s Halloween decorations while imagining all the added spaces those decorations create for hiding bodies and committing crimes for me to write about.
Has fall started where you are yet? Do you decorate for fall, or Halloween, or both?
