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Tim Little's avatar

In Australia and New Zealand, there is no such thing as "fall" (it is called autumn). Moreover, the native podocarp trees are not deciduous, so "fall" colors are only to be found in pockets of exotic trees. Here in Wellington at latitude 41° S. (i.e., in the "Roaring Forties"), the equinoctial periods feature especially strong and frequent gales. They can be wearing. Perhaps this is also the case on the Isle of Wight. But I enjoy autumn for many of the same reasons that you do. As our fruit and vegetables are mostly grown locally, and there are few imports (especially from the northern hemisphere), the harvest time is celebrated in full measure. We savor the short-lived things like summer fruits and berries, fresh chilies, zucchini (here called courgettes) and eggplant (aubergine) before the winter sets in, and they become unavailable, or nearly so. In winter, root vegetables, squash and leafy "silverbeet" figure large.

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prue batten's avatar

Lovely lovely post, with a real sense of a season's turn.

I'm with you.

Love harvesting the produce, cooking with it, freezing the food for winter sustenance, love the colours, the cooler nights when bed becomes a warm hobbit hole. Wearing warmer clothes and LOVE the way the incomers vanish and the coast returns to us. Selfish I know, but one can actually see the wildlife emerge, the dolphins and sea eagles, the little coastal birds - all reclaiming what is rightfully theirs much more than ours.

If there's anything that's a bugbear, its raking up the multitude of leaves off the lawns. It's mammoth. I tend to leave any that fall on the garden beds as ready-made compost.

Besides, when all is said and down, we know that seasons roll around with beautiful regularity and there's comfort in that ancient ritual.

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