Ashes, Ashes, We all Fall Down

Lisa started a tradition of looking back each season at what things were like when we were kids. She calls it When I Was A Child. You can see my Summer list HERE.

I love this idea, and even though I am just barely squeaking in for Fall, I am still within the limits! When I was a kid, there are specific things that we did every fall. On top of that, there are many things that when I see them, hear them or smell them, completely take me back to being a kid.

Raking Leaves: To be more specific, raking, piling them up and then jumping in them. Or sometimes just what seemed like hours of raking. 

Leaves...and a dog in my sweater.

Firewood: The bane of my existence as a kid was the wood stove. There were endless hours of chopping wood, hauling wood, splitting kindling and stoking the fire. It seemed hard for me at the time, but now I look back and realize what little I actually did. I never had to get up at 5 in the morning to start the fire at least! Thank goodness I was a kid then!

Oranges and Cinnamon: My Mom used to put orange peels and cinnamon in a pot of water on the (wood) stove (and sometimes cloves etc) and it would give off such a homey smell. I loved coming home from school to the smell of that.

Apples: I mentioned before, and you have probably noticed from the Apple a Day series, that we had trees in our backyard (and still do!) Funny enough, I remember apple pies and always was a fan of eating apples, but what I mostly remember is chucking the hard apples at my cousins in the backyard. We used to have apple fights and those things sure would leave a welt!

School: Fall meant being back in school with your friends, watching football games, drinking hot cocoa in the stands and just general good times with friends.

Soccer: Even though soccer began in the summer, the actual games were played mostly in the Fall. We were a motley crew. The first year I played was the first year our school had a girls’ team, so we had our work cut out for us. This did not stop us from having fun though!  We didn’t have funding for a bus, so we had to carpool and we sure had fun on those car rides!

The soccer girls

Footie Pajamas: I might have to buy myself an adult version of those footie PJs, because those were my favorite thing ever. Although now I can’t stand having anything on my feet, so maybe it wouldn’t go over as well. They are great for wearing around the house though!

Daylight Savings: Since I didn’t care if it was dark or not, I always LOVED to Fall Back. This somehow meant an extra hour to stay up (feels like 10 but its ONLY 9!) AND an extra hour to sleep in!! It was a double bonus in my book.

Boots: As you can see, I used to be quite stylish. However, I have taken a significant turn for the worse, style-wise, since then. 

Me with my puss and boots

Hiking: Since my parents owned their own business which was busiest in the summer, we did most of our weekend trips and vacations in the Fall and Winter. We often went hiking in the Fall, since it was still warm enough to do so.

Mt. Whitney -- 1995

Mt. Lassen -- Circa 1987

Halloween: This holiday was a big deal. I remember getting homemade cookies and popcorn balls as the candy. Also, my Dad would buy our candy from us and then we could have it back, but only one candy per day. To me, this was the ultimate set-up because, a) I don’t really like candy anyway and b) I do like money. Money over candy was my motto. Cha-ching! 

See the wood stove behind me!? Hours of firewood splitting!

What were the autumns of your childhood spent doing? Are there some things you did then that you still do now?