September 27, 2006

Fall is here!



Some new things I've learned:
1) Do you think genetics plays a big role in your probability of getting cancer? Turns out that only 5% of those diagnosed with cancer can attribute their illness to heredity (from the book, "The Biology of Belief" by Dr. Bruce Lipton).
2 )Ever wonder why the closer you get to the equator, the spicier the food gets? It's because before refrigeration, meat would spoil and the hotter the weather is ( like it is the closer you get to the equator), the more spoiled meat you would have. Folks soon found that cooked spoiled meat tasted horrible and so they started using spices to cover-up the taste. The more spoiled the meat, the more spices to help the taste.


Can I just say that I love the fall? I really do. Does anyone know what I mean when I say that there is just a certain "energy" in the air in the fall? I seem to get motivated and have a lot of energy during the fall. Perhaps because there is so much to do. Now is a great time to go hiking, camping and exploring. To me, fall is that great time of the season where it's nice and cool in the morning so you can cuddle up in your bed with you blankets and start the day off with some hot cocoa. Then, as the sun goes up, so does the temperature, allowing me to do all sorts of fun outdoor activities.

I love watching the leaves change, it's one of my favorite activities and I'm looking forward to observing the fall in Utah. Just this past Monday, I took a group for a "stroll" up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was great to see all of the colors from the aspens and maples in the canyon while still being surrounded by green pine and spruce trees. The air smelled great too...fresh and full of life. Tonight I look forward for going up Millcreek Canyon with some friends to see some more leaves, start a campfire (which always smells great), roast some marshmallows and just soak up the atmosphere.

Some more things that I like about the Fall is apple and pumpkin picking, making homemade pies, getting up early to spend the whole day at church to make apple butter, hayrides, tracking deer, watching the geese get ready to fly South for the Winter and the list goes on and on...

Another great aspect about the fall is that now is when the baseball season gets exciting. I get all caught up in the playoffs and the World Series, especially when the St. Louis Cardinals are involved!

Perhaps the only thing about the fall that I don't like is that I know the days are getting shorter and that cold weather is soon to come. This will be my first fall in Utah and already, on September 15th, snow dusted the valley and there is now snow on the mountain tops...I don't know how I feel about snow this "early" but it sure is pretty. On the upside, if farmer's tales have any truth to them, it shouldn't be too bad of a winter. According to folklore, you can gauge how bad a winter will be by how much black is on a wooly worm, like the one above. I'm going to trust the farmer's almanac and say that the little guy's orange stripe pictured above is a sign of a decent winter...I hope so! But whatever happens, I'm sure it will be pretty and my 9&1/2 Wide Clodhoppers will be excited to put on some boots and check things out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting tidbits--especially about the meat. What I had heard is that the heat of the summer is an appetite suppresant, and the spices in the foods were supposed to encourage eating. In colder climates those spices weren't as necessary. But that could have been something my mom just said when we were bugging her with too many questions!

As for the fall, I love it, too. And I know exactly what you mean about the energy in the air! It's like it's just chilly enough not to make you sluggish, but not so cold that you want to bundle up and stay inside all the time. Or that's how it is for me, at least.

Susie said...

Hi Caryn,
Thanks for stopping by! I heard the meat-spices fact from a roomate, but I'm sure there are several factors of why folks close to the equator use hotter and hotter spices.

Yeah, fall is great, I think there's a certain energy in the air because there is so much going on in the fall and I just feed off of that energy. Anyways, thanks for stopping by!