Things We Love About Fall

By Chuck Sudo in Miscellaneous on Oct 22, 2010 4:00PM

Vereiasz

Now that it looks like the cooler weather is here to stay and herald the cliff dive into winter, it's time for us to list our things we love about the brief period of time we Chicagoans call "fall." If you're a glass-half-full type, there's a lot to love.

• Football
• Hearty meals like chili & stews
• Skinny jeans still being in fashion, fall marks the return of Uggs boots. Puffy sheepskin boots + skinny jeans = Happy
• That smell of hot dust that marks the radiators coming on after the sun goes down.
• Oktoberfest flavored beers and heartier beers like porters and stouts come into season
• Light jacket weather - not too hot and sweaty but not freezing
• The in-between time where both electric and heating bills are lower
• Burning leaves
• Brisk daytime bike rides among falling leaves in forest preserves.
• The wearing of light sweaters.
• Climate that makes it necessary for a scarf
• The beginning of the good movie season, i.e. Oscar contenders make it to the big screen
• Brunch on a brisk fall day on a patio
• The sound of leaves crunching under our feet
• Hot apple cider
• Any food with pumpkin in it
• A classic trench coat
• Jack-o-lanterns
• Getting drunk and throwing the jack-o'-lantern off the roof, looking at the smashed jack-o'-lantern, seeing in it a metaphor for life's rapid decay, a despair that is encapsulated by autumn's disappearing warmth, fallen leaves, and dying daylight
• Knit hats
• Inviting friends over for a sleepover
• Turtlenecks
• Candy Corn
• Short skirts with tall boots
• Cinammon! And Ginger!
• Our refusal to ever wear shorts is vindicated.
• Halloween
• Music festival season ends; more intimate touring resumes.
• Flannel
• The World Series
• Corn mazes, pumpkin patches, hay rides
• The beginning of NBA season
• The first frost, which mercifully ends allergy season
• Listening to all the wonderful songs of the season, like "Autumn in New York" by Billie Holliday and "Autumn Leaves" by Duke Ellington
• Waking up to a fresh pot of hot coffee is a pleasurable experience again
• Binging on old horror movies
• Autumn’s amber rays of sunlight
• Cute boys wrapped up in scarves (we should be tired of this by now, but we’re not)
• Less bikers on the road and thus more available bike parking
• Crockpot meals
• Affy Tapples
• It's okay to look frumpy. As in, we have an excuse to wear a mismatched sweater, chunky scarf and jeans. Not because we're lazy, it's because it's getting cold.
• The holidays are near.
• Drinking bourbon before noon with the valid excuse of "I'm just trying to get warmed up!"
• Sunday Dinners that warm up the whole house
• The return of Old Fashioneds and Manhattans
• Sleeping with the windows open
• Snugglier kitties
• You can bake delicious fall things without your kitchen heating up to eleventy billion degrees.
• The return of Eli's pumpkin cheesecake