Happy Fall Equinox!

autumn leaf

Our Rodger’s Red grapevine tells us when Fall is here.

Here in LA last week we suffered a miserable heatwave: four days of temperatures above 100°F ( 37.7° C) without even the relief of cool nights. In bed, I wept as the fan swept a 95°F breeze over my body, and vowed to my pillow that I would divorce Mr. I Love LA  and move to Seattle.

Then, on Sunday, I woke up feeling in my bones that something had changed. Suddenly, I was happy and energized. The nights turned cool. I heard the crows returning to the palm trees in our neighborhood, and I realized that Fall must have arrived. I checked the calendar, and saw that the equinox would be — today — Tuesday the 23rd. Glory Hallelujah!

Autumn in LA is really just a gentling of the summer–there’s no frost and little color change. No burning leaves or apple harvests. It will most likely be hot and sunny on Halloween day, perhaps even on Christmas day–and it may never, ever rain again. Yet everything has changed. The sun is crossing the celestial equator and will be spending more time in parts South, meaning it will not beat so hard or so long upon the top of my poor head until next summer.

I cannot say how excited I am. Suddenly, I want to cook. I want to work in the garden and wander in the mountains. It’s like being let out of jail.

How about all of you in your respective parts of the globe. Did you feel the shift? Will you be celebrating the coming of autumn — or summer, if you are south of the equator?

Leave a comment

11 Comments

  1. Definitely felt the shift here in Portland Oregon – after one of the longest hottest summers I can remember, FINALLY the weather shifted and today is cooler. Last night while out riding my bike there was actually a bit of drizzle, so very welcome!! We also have a Mediterranean climate here, not as hot as LA, but usually no rain at all for the months from late spring to autumn.

  2. yes the nights and mornings have that chill in the air, here in Napa, and the garden is not as vibrant green as in summer. The tomatoes have slowed but always want to keep flowering due to our great Indian Summer days. I also harvest our three walnut trees during this period, and since this is wine country, the grape harvest is in full swing. Lots to do to get ready for Fall/Winter months ahead….but it is my favorite season.

  3. Spring equinox saw us out in the garden sinking 16 poles into holes and concreting them in. I didn’t even realise that it was spring equinox but as I was standing there holding poles while concrete was being shoveled in (someone has to read the level 😉 ), I looked out over the river and felt spring rising in my blood. SO glad it is starting to cool down there in LA. Your conditions are much like many throughout Australia but we escaped the worst climate options and headed on down to Tasmania to while away our middle age. Love reading your excellent blog. Incredible pause for thought 🙂

  4. I am curious- do you not have air conditioning? I don’t know too much about the LA climate, but if you can get by with out air conditioning you are lucky. I am in the lower midwest and we usually have about 6-8 weeks of 90 plus degrees with humidity. This year, in contrast to Portland, we had a gorgeous summer, more like the upper midwest. We did have some hot humid weather near the end, but it is so wonderful out now. I am back to cooking too.

  5. Same here! I’m in Houston TX and it dropped to a whopping 82 degrees today, but most importantly it’s only 33% humidity. To celebrate I’m making soup and working on a quilt top! Any temp below 90 degrees tends to excite me. Since it takes awhile for the season to change here (or stay, once it’s “changed”), I always notice the shift in light first; it’s become that golden, honeyed light of autumn. Makes me happy.

  6. Until I married the love of my life and started spending time in St. Louis I never realized what a Hellish place much of the USA is in the summer. Being a Canadian who never travelled South of New York, I only got a vision of the Southern US from movies, which never seem to convey how soul-killing the heat of summer can be. My only consolation was laughing at my dear wife when she came to visit me the first time in January. She refused to step out the door unless she was dressed for a polar expedition.

    There are people who can handle heat, and there are people who can handle cold.

  7. Here in the Caribbean(Grenada), I have noticed the change in light. The days are getting shorter. For the past week been having lots of heavy rain showers, with some sunshine in-between. I have also be seeing a rainbow almost every day. Avocado is in season and am adding lots of herbs to my avocado dips.
    My body sometimes miss Conway, SC fall gardening potentials. It is like a second dose of the growing season.

  8. The season shifted overnight in the southern Willamette Valley. We have rain for the first time in months, and suddenly everything smells like rain and mist and autumn leaves. Last night, I celebrated by baking an apple crisp and making chicken soup for the first time in months. I’m pulling out sweaters and making autumn/Halloween-themed digital collages to post on my Tumblr and elsewhere.

  9. We moved from north Florida, which doesn’t have an autumn either, to right outside of Portland, Oregon seven years ago and asked a local about the season. “Oh yeah,” he said, “summer comes right around Independence Day and leaves on the last day of summer. Kind of like someone turning a switch on and off. You watch.” And darn if he wasn’t right! Up to the 22nd, we’ve been having fairly hot weather, although you could tell autumn was coming because the sunlight was mellowing out and some of the leaves are starting to turn. But on the first day of autumn yesterday, just like clockwork, it started raining, and it will rain through Friday. so much for my tomatoes.

  10. Yep, definitely Autumn in the UK. Mists, spider’s webs (and this year millions of daddy-long-legs), apples, blackberries and conkers…

Comments are closed.