Rites of Autumn

We are entering my favorite time of the year.  I love the promise of cooler weather, even if in Louisiana, we don’t actually experience the cooler weather.  My husband always announces at the first of September, “Thank goodness, only two more months of summer!”  An exaggeration, I hope, although the weatherman has been hinting at temperatures that could approach 100 degrees in some parts of the Ark-La-Tex this week.

Even in the Deep South, fall rituals arrive whether Louisiana is in synch weather-wise or not.  For instance, it’s football time in the SEC!  I have to admit I enjoy watching college football on Saturdays.  The roar of the crowd takes me back to Volunteer days, attending football games at the University of Tennessee.  After the game, friends would often come to our on-campus apartment to eat supper.   Anyone who drove to the game wanted to wait for the traffic to clear and restaurants were packed.  My ex-husband and I were too poor to offer anything other than spaghetti to a hungry crowd of twenty-something graduate students, but no one complained.  Now my husband Ricky and I watch college football from the comfort of our recliners, cheering for our favorite teams while we snack on Earl Campbell sausage. 

I have other fall rituals.  I love fall magazines, full of pumpkins, gourds, autumn leaves, and the colors of fall.  I like fall festivals and holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving.   I have a few decorations that say fall is here.  There’s a small Mickey Mouse Dracula snow globe and witches and crones and black cat decorations and noise makers and jack-o-lanterns.  Some would say I’ve fully embraced my inner child.

Gourd Jack-o-lantern

For Thanksgiving, I’m such a turkey, I have a turkey collection.

No matter what the outside temperatures are, the hint of fall sends me into the kitchen to cook.  Sometimes I try recipes found in magazines.  Last week I made the Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms and Collards from the October Country Living magazine.  Here is the recipe from the magazine. Everyone who tasted it seemed to like it. 

Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms and Collards

I still have frozen blueberries from the summer, so I’ve made two batches of blueberry muffins and one of banana blueberry muffins. 

Blueberry Banana Muffin

We harvested the last of our green peppers, so naturally I fixed stuffed peppers for supper.

Peppers from our trough garden

Stuffed Peppers

I’m not boasting of any culinary talents here.   I’m just having fun anticipating the return of cooler weather and enjoying my annual rites that welcome autumn’s arrival, which will be here—someday, eventually, just wait for it….it’s on its way.