Not Really "Fall"

One of my grade school teachers told us that autumn is called "fall" because that's when the leaves fall from the trees. Later on, when Daylight Savings Time was instituted, so was the saying that our clocks should spring forward in the spring and fall back in the fall.

Now I live in the Phoenix area where the leaves stay on the trees year-round and we don't have Daylight Savings Time (we have so much sunshine that we don't need to save it). Despite the date on the calendar, this doesn't really seem like "fall" to me.

Signs of Autumn

	Up North	Arizona
Clothing	Unpack hats, coats, gloves, boots, heavy sweaters, corduroy pants, thermal underwear	Unpack a sweater, just in case
Car	Add antifreeze; put blanket, shovel, bag of sand and emergency kit in trunk	Pack a book for snowbird-induced gridlock on the highway
House	Turn on furnace	Turn off air conditioning
Pool	Drain and cover	Test heater
Yard	Rake leaves	Rake rocks
Halloween	Choose costume for warmth	Choose costume for ventilation

Ah, well, one thing remains constant - I'm going to buy twice as much chocolate as I actually need for trick-or-treaters, just to be sure we have leftovers.

"No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring."  - Samuel Johnson