101 Great Things About Fall Autumn Is A Wonderful Time Of Year - Just Let Us Count The Ways
Who says the paper never prints good news?
Here’s some - it’s fall, in case you hadn’t noticed. And here in the Inland Northwest, there are lots of reasons to love this season. At least 101 reasons, in fact.
1. Pies, pies and more pies.
2. Kicking up leaves on the sidewalk while walking down the street to your car after leaving the Cheney Cowles Museum.
3. The people behind you putting their feet up on your seat at the movies aren’t wearing the sweaty sandals they had on all summer at the lake.
4. Being able to find a place to park in downtown Coeur d’Alene.
5. Talking to your neighbor about the obvious answers to downtown Spokane’s problems while both of you are supposed to be raking.
6. Being reminded by the light and the air that all that “four-seasons climate” stuff isn’t just a bunch of boosterism nonsense.
7. About 600 different holiday bazaars.
8. Getting to say “This? You call THIS cold?” when a newcomer from warmer climes utters an innocent remark.
9. Pointedly rolling your eyes when you hear someone insist that ALL of the Inland Northwest’s lamebrained icy-roads driving is the fault of ex-Californians - a statistical impossibility.
10. Spokane Valley bowling teams with names like “Legends of the Fall.”
11. Knowing that the cigarette butts littering various STA stops soon will be covered up.
12. The giddy thrill of being one of the few to make it home to Spokane from Pullman without getting a ticket outside Colfax.
13. Looking down from the Skywalk and seeing people’s breath.
14. Cold eventually forces carstereo blasters to roll ‘em up.
15. Getting to shake your head at teenagers who express their coolness by refusing to wear a coat.
16. Continuing education classes.
17. An end to the grass-burning.
18. Getting to read about the insane thing some Eastern Washington legislator intends to propose when next in Olympia.
19. Explaining to your black cat why it has to stay in on Halloween night.
20. Hunter/gatherer instincts rekindled by the search for firewood.
21. Pastors giving hell to church-goers who spent every summer Sunday at the lake.
22. Sleeping under a blanket with the windows open (until the skunk).
23. The sounds little kids make when they pull the guts out of a pumpkin.
24. The faces little kids make when they pull the guts out of a pumpkin.
25. One word: Rocktober.
26. Getting to ridicule certain TV weathercasters who totally misread their audience and act as if we’re all a bunch of big babies about any sign that winter is approaching.
27. The Cougars’ inexorable march to the Rose Bowl.
28. Eating an entire bag of miniature Snickers a month before Halloween.
29. During the Thanksgiving weekend, showing a local landmark such as the new Spokane Arena to your brother-in-law from Mercer Island and shouting SS! when you win a bet with your spouse that he would bash it within 30 seconds.
30. Caramel apples at Green Bluff.
31. Fewer people wearing tank tops.
32. Realtors stunning everyone by declaring “Now is a good time to buy.”
33. Saying “Go out” and tossing a football at Manito Park.
34. Canada is still close but less crowded than in the summer.
35. Fussing with your ski stuff.
36. Leaf-watching on Mount Spokane.
37. The way certain people look in sweaters.
38. Hearing detailed accounts of how co-workers behaved at Halloween parties.
39. Listen: no Jet-Skis.
40. You get to play the part of “rugged Northwesterner” when waving good-bye to snowbirds.
41. At least some of your male co-workers will decide not to get an early start on their food-trapping winter beards.
42. The way malamutes and huskies perk up.
43. Driving in the Palouse after the first dusting of snow.
44. Talking to your neighbor about the pros and cons of studded tires while both of you are supposed to be raking.
45. No more mowing.
46. The outdoor concert season ends and people stop trying to talk you into driving half the night to listen to some music that you, frankly, are not all that excited about.
47. Gonzaga University reminds us once again that a college can get along just fine without football, thank you.
48. Pretending to have a German accent while drinking beer at an Oktoberfest.
49. Getting to hear your co-workers predict a brutal winter.
50. Saying “But you ALWAYS insist we’re going to have a brutal winter.”
51. Halting a coed touch football game for the umpteenth time to discuss illegal use of hands.
52. Fewer people at work saying “It’s too nice to be inside,” even though - now that it isn’t 90 degrees - it really is.
53. Being reminded of how much the mountain-pass reports add a sense of drama to life in this part of the country.
54. Fewer people wearing sunglasses indoors.
55. Saying “Do a down and out” and tossing a football at Corbin Park.
56. Spokane’s NFL team winning almost as many games as Seattle’s.
57. The joy of voting against candidates you despise.
58. Being able to go to bed early without the sun still being up.
59. Debating the merits of different turkey-dressing styles.
60. The guilty pleasure of enjoying the smell of wood smoke.
61. Getting to wear clothes that are, um, more forgiving.
62. Thinking about where the hummingbirds are now.
63. Being in bed and saying “Here, feel how cold my feet are.”
64. Harvest festivals.
65. Realizing once again that there are stereotype-defying people who attend both Spokane Symphony concerts and Spokane Chiefs games.
66. Talking to your neighbor about a third neighbor while both of you are supposed to be raking.
67. People stop giving you stuff from their gardens.
68. Cooler weather means that walking past certain Dumpsters is less likely to make you want to hurl.
69. Debates about hunting and about Columbus Day.
70. New stuff at Interplayers and the Civic.
71. That one “fall back” Sunday morning.
72. The Spokesman-Review starts cranking out special projects before the year-end deadline for journalism contests.
73. The tragedy/comedy of the KPBX-FM fall pledge drive.
74. High school sports and plays.
75. Finding that faded old soft-as-a-blanky Idaho Vandals sweatshirt you thought was long gone.
76. Hearing that there’s already a foot of snow on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway.
77. Actually being able to reach people with whom you are trying to do business instead of repeatedly hearing that they are at the lake.
78. Facing the prospect of standing outside in cold weather during every break period, a few more smokers call it quits.
79. Getting to make “Priest Lake monster,” “County Commissioner with a badge” and other scary localized Halloween costumes.
80. Being able to remember Washington state’s birthday because it is the same as Veterans Day.
81. Not having to relearn the indoors art of cocooning because the Spokane area practically invented it.
82. Laughing at the pep-talks golf diehards give one another about the wisdom of trying to get in a round when it is 39 degrees out.
83. The Flathead Valley.
84. Wednesday night blues jams at The Big Dipper.
85. Knee socks and plaid skirts.
86. Hot cereals before going out, hot soups after coming in.
87. Homecoming games, parties and dates.
88. Hearing the annual question, “Just what IS mulled wine?”
89. Your mailbox is full every day and some of those catalogs are even interesting.
90. The night sky darkens and star-gazing gets good.
91. Rutting season.
92. Carrying pumpkins to the car.
93. Offering up free and open commentary in response to Spokane’s TV news anchors trying out new hairdos and wardrobes.
94. Jewish holidays.
95. Ice-skating at Riverfront Park.
96. Walking around in lederhosen in Leavenworth.
97. Watching toddlers try on snow suits.
98. “Monster Mash” is Big Foot’s unofficial anthem.
99. Drive-through hot chocolate.
100. Talking to your neighbor about why the Inland Northwest is, all things considered, a pretty good place to live while both of you are supposed to be raking.
101. Christmas is coming and, unlike some places that we could name, there’s a decent chance we’ll have snow.
OK, that’s our list. Now let’s see yours. Mail it to IN Life, c/o The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by A. Heitner