What's to Like About Fall?

I have to admit, fall is not my favorite season of the year. It usually means cooler weather (even in So Cal), the end of daylight savings time, and back to school. So I'm going to dig deep here and come up with my favorite things about fall.

Soccer: It may be back to school time but it's also back to regular season soccer. My boys play club soccer so they play almost the entire year, but fall is the regular season with games every weekend - sometimes two games a weekend (sometimes four if both boys' teams play on Sat. and Sun.) I may be crazy, but I love watching those soccer games.

Halloween: I've always taken the boys out trick-or-treating with a big group of kids and parents tagging along. Last year I ended up having a glass of wine with the moms of my older son's two best friends. The boys, along with their younger siblings, hung around the front of the house scaring trick-or-treaters and handing out candy. A nice end to the evening that included a VERY good haunted house in the neighborhood (one year this family did an insane asylum and last year it was a demented circus with creepy clowns - yikes - all live people in there scaring you!)

Santa Ana Winds: Often in Oct., L.A. experiences an indian summer with hot, dry temps, and then those Santa Ana winds kick in. A lot of people think I'm nuts because I love the Santa Anas (don't like the brush fires they can whip up though), but there's something just so L.A. about those winds. Raymond Chandler described them like this: "One of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight ... anything can happen."

Pumpkin Pie: My favorite pie and the only time I ever eat pumpkin pie is on Thanksgiving.

Dexter: This fantastic show on Showtime about a serial killer returns for its 4th season. At the end of every season, I can't imagine how the show can get any better - and then it does.

Silver Strand Half Marathon: Don't know if my husband is going to participate this year, but it's a great opportunity to go down to Coronado in San Diego.

Release from eRed Sage: And finally, I'm looking forward to the release of my story, "Triple Threat" from eRed Sage in Nov. It's part of the Three Kinds of Wicked series that launched in July.

There! I did it. I actually almost stopped mourning the passing of summer. What do you like about fall?