Fall

Well, it's officially fall. I love fall--especially here. Lund just resonates with fall-ish ambiance. Picture wood-sided farm houses surrounded by big,country trees, family gardens full of round orange pumpkins, and well-attended high school football games. If that's not the meaning of fall, I don't know what is. But, I think what makes it feel most like fall is the crisp, clean air. It sweeps across our little town and wraps us snugly in a pumpkin-scented, rosy-cheeked atmosphere. There is nothing like bundling up in a polar fleece jacket and eating pumpkin chocolate chip cookies in air like that.

Yes, these are all reasons why I love fall in Lund. But, there's another more sinister reason for my merry-making at this time of year: the demise of a much-loathed hoard of bugs that seems to follow me wherever I go in the summer. Unfortunately, during the hotter months here in Lund, our lovely wood-sided farm houses are ambushed by masses of rather large, almost Amazon-like bugs. OK, truth be told, most of the ambushes are carried out by regular sized insects; but, it would not be an exaggeration to say I have seen moths with a six-inch wingspan, butterflies the size of my hand, and wasps two and a half inches in length! Seriously? Seriously. I've asked myself many a time what the purpose of such bugs could be. But, whenever I reach that point I try to remind myself that someone much wiser than I created them and hence must have had a purpose for doing so. Then, as a good country woman ought, I grit my teeth and resign myself to their unsightly exteriors and unwitting provocations. And, as a good city girl ought, I spray lots and lots of bug repellent. All in all, though, I suppose I'm grateful for the six-legged creatures of the world. I mean, without them, how would I know to appreciate fall so much?