New England Mating Season

It felt like Fall this morning in Austin, so much so that I wished I'd not left my hoodie at work when I left the apartment this morning. I know it won't last (the real, consistent, Fall weather still being a few weeks off here) but, as a someone who grew up in New England the cooler weather stirred some pleasant memories.

I believe it was my friend Mark Wood who once described Fall as "mating season" for New England kids. The reasons for this ranging from the increased likelihood of sharing hot chocolate whilst cuddling to remain warm with members of the opposite sex (or same ... if that's your deal) to the preponderance of Fall related activities that the northeastern United States revel in, hokey shit like hay rides and what have you. In all honesty though the Fall is really the only consistently "nice", so it's when people tend to get together and go out to do things. Winter is pretty consistently awful. Spring is wet and depressing for all but a couple weeks towards the end. Summer has spurts of niceness, but in large is too humid to really enjoy. Fall is entirely bearable though and what with the changing leaves, largely consistent weather, and the aforementioned hay rides, it's downright romantic.


At any rate, it felt like Fall in Austin this morning and while it's "nice" for much more of the year here than it ever was in New England, I still have a soft spot for that cooler weather. For New England kids past, present, and future, it's mating season again.