Before The Fall

The air is starting to carry a bit of that fall feeling…and I don’t like it. I’m a So Cal girl, summer is who I am and what I love. When autumn begins its not-slow-enough march of death toward summer, I feel restless and panicky, wanting to hold onto every moment of long days and sultry nights for as long as I can before the time changes, the season changes, and everything changes. Fall is my least favorite season because it heralds and hastens the end of summer, yet still permits torturous backward glimpses of what summer was like--a few unseasonably warm days, an extra weekend of camping or barbequing, an occasional night of needing the window cracked open just a touch. The ghost of summer lingers to remind us of what was. I realized this year as the air turned a little too crisp one morning and I loudly protested that it was too early for fall, that no time would be acceptable for summer to wane, and thus any autumn is premature. To be fair, lots of people love this time of year for many reasons, not the least of which is Halloween. Pumpkins and full moons and spooky costumes seduce them into forgetting all about summer and lure them away from the light…and the sun. In Lauren Thompson’s Mouse’s First Halloween, the little guy gets introduced to new experiences by overcoming his fear of the unknown and embracing the season. He’s young, he doesn’t know any better.

http://www.amazon.com/Mouses-First-Halloween-Lauren-Thompson/dp/0689831765

http://www.laurenthompson.net/