The Little Things That Tell Me Fall Has Finally Reached Georgia

Fall in Georgia does not arrive because the calendar says it should. September 22 can come and go, the first day of fall can be officially announced, and it can still be hot enough outside to make you question every person posting pictures of sweaters and steaming mugs of coffee on Instagram. I will see someone wrapped in a blanket talking about crisp fall mornings while I’m standing under an air-conditioning vent trying to cool off.

We don’t always get four clearly defined seasons here. Sometimes we get summer, more summer, a few beautiful weeks of fall, something vaguely resembling winter, and then pollen. So I don’t pay much attention to the official date when it comes to deciding whether fall has reached Georgia. I have my own signs.

They’re usually small things. The light looks a little different in the afternoon. I walk outside one morning and don’t immediately want to turn around and go back into the air conditioning. The porch starts becoming somewhere I actually want to sit again instead of somewhere I admire through the window.

Eventually, I realize fall has managed to sneak in while nobody was looking.

The Morning Air Changes First

This is usually the first thing I notice. You walk outside early one morning expecting the same wall of heat and humidity we’ve been dealing with for months, and the air feels different. I’m not saying it’s cold. Let’s not get carried away.

It may still be warm enough by afternoon that you’re wondering whether you imagined the whole thing, but for a few hours that morning, there’s a little coolness in the air.

Those mornings are wonderful. The porch becomes much more appealing when sitting outside doesn’t feel like an endurance event. I can take something to drink outside and stay awhile instead of giving up after ten minutes because the humidity has decided to sit down beside me.

Even the sounds seem different early in the morning. Summer mornings can feel busy before the day has really started. By late September, there’s sometimes a quietness that wasn’t there a few weeks earlier.

Of course, this is Georgia, so one cool morning means absolutely nothing about what the afternoon will do. You leave the house wearing something appropriate for 65 degrees and regret every decision you’ve ever made when it’s 87 by three o’clock. Layering isn’t a fashion choice here. It’s survival.

I Can Sit on the Porch Without Melting

This is probably my most reliable test. If I can sit on the porch in the afternoon and enjoy myself, fall is getting close. I love a porch, but there are parts of a Georgia summer when even I have limits. When the temperature is in the 90s and the humidity makes the air feel thick enough to chew, I’m perfectly happy appreciating the porch from inside the house.

Then September starts winding down and the porch becomes useful again. You can sit outside after supper. You can have a conversation without everyone eventually saying, “It’s too hot out here.”

You might even want a light blanket later in the evening. Not yet, probably. But we’re getting there. That’s when I start thinking about changing a few things outside too. I want fall flowers, maybe a pumpkin or two, and something pretty near the door. I don’t need the porch to look like a pumpkin patch exploded on it. A few seasonal touches are plenty. I want it to look like fall has arrived, not like fall is storing inventory at my house.

The Trees Start Hinting at What’s Coming

Our leaves don’t always put on their big show as early as the ones farther north. That’s fine with me. I like the waiting. You’ll start seeing a little yellow here and a touch of red somewhere else. One tree seems to be in a hurry while the one beside it is still completely green.

Driving through Georgia when the leaves really start changing is beautiful, but I like those first little signs almost as much. There’s something about noticing the first tree that has decided to go ahead without everybody else. By late September, I’m looking for it.

The mountains will eventually put on their show, and that’s always worth seeing. Around home, though, the change is quieter at first. A few leaves begin collecting around the edges of the yard. The light coming through the trees changes. Then one day you realize the green of summer isn’t quite as green anymore.

The Grocery Store Starts Getting Dangerous

I know stores start putting out fall things ridiculously early. You can be shopping for sunscreen and suddenly find yourself face-to-face with a decorative pumpkin. I try not to let retail decide the season for me.

By late September, though, the food starts getting my attention.

Apples are everywhere.

There are apple ciders, apple butters, caramel apples, and enough cinnamon-scented things to make the entire store smell like someone has been baking. That’s when I start thinking differently about what I want to cook. In August, I’m looking at tomatoes, peaches, salads, and things that don’t require the oven to be running for three hours.

By the end of September, I want roasted vegetables. I want apples with pork chops. I start thinking about soup. I’m looking at potatoes and wondering what I can put them in. The crockpot starts earning its counter space again. I’m still not making a huge pot of chili if it’s 88 degrees outside, but I’m thinking about it.

That’s progress.

The Clothes Get Confusing

There is no simple way to dress for early fall in Georgia. You can wake up and need a cardigan. By lunch, you’re carrying the cardigan. By late afternoon, you’re annoyed that you brought the cardigan. Then the sun goes down and suddenly you want it back.

This is why my car, bag, and various chairs around the house end up collecting layers this time of year. I love seeing boots and sweaters come back into stores, but I know better than to get too excited. A heavy sweater in September sounds wonderful until you actually wear one.

Then you’re standing somewhere sweating while trying to pretend you aren’t. I prefer easing into it. A lightweight cardigan. Jeans without immediately regretting them. Shoes that aren’t sandals. Those are the real milestones. The first time I can wear long sleeves for an entire day without pushing them up to my elbows, I’ll believe fall has truly committed.

The House Starts Smelling Different

I don’t intentionally change everything in the house when fall arrives, but somehow it happens anyway. The lighter summer candles start getting replaced with scents that have a little more warmth to them. Apple, vanilla, cinnamon, woodsy scents, and anything that smells remotely like someone has been baking tend to get my attention.

I start wanting a blanket nearby in the evenings, even if I’m not actually cold enough to need it yet. The kitchen changes most.

I use the oven more often. There might be something baking simply because I wanted the house to smell good and happened to want something sweet at the same time.

Those two things work out nicely together. I’m also more likely to make a real breakfast on a cooler morning. Summer mornings make fruit and something quick sound perfectly reasonable. Give me one cool Saturday morning and suddenly I’m thinking about biscuits, eggs, bacon, and whether we have everything I need to make pancakes. Apparently my appetite has seasons too.

Football Is Everywhere

You cannot talk about fall in Georgia without mentioning football. Even if you don’t follow every game, you know when football season starts. It’s everywhere.

Televisions are tuned to games. People schedule things around kickoff times. Grocery stores are full of game-day food. Somebody is discussing a call from a game you didn’t watch as though you should obviously know exactly what they’re talking about.

And the clothes change. You start seeing team colors everywhere you go. Football is one of those things that marks the season here just as clearly as the leaves eventually do. Saturday feels different once college football is back.

There’s food involved. There’s yelling at televisions. There are people explaining what a coach should have done despite the coach being unable to hear them from the living room. Fall has arrived.

The Bugs Calm Down a Little

Nobody puts this on a cute fall sign, but I’m including it. One of the nicest things about cooler weather is that eventually every insect in Georgia stops treating me like an all-you-can-eat buffet. I would like to sit outside without mosquitoes holding a family reunion around my ankles.

Summer evenings are lovely in theory. In reality, I’m often swatting something. By fall, sitting outside becomes much more enjoyable. There will still be bugs because this is Georgia and we’re not getting miracles, but at least it feels like we’re starting to win the battle.

Even Petunia seems to appreciate the cooler weather. There is more time to wander around without everybody wanting to get back inside where the air conditioner is.

I Start Wanting to Go Somewhere

Fall makes me want to get in the car. Maybe it’s because driving becomes more pleasant when you’re not stepping out into a parking lot that feels like the surface of the sun. Maybe it’s because Georgia is particularly pretty this time of year.

Either way, I start thinking about little day trips. North Georgia is an obvious choice once the leaves start changing, but it doesn’t have to be a big planned outing. Sometimes it’s enough to drive somewhere nearby, stop for lunch, wander through a few shops, and come home.

Fall is good for that. Windows down if the weather cooperates. No rush. Maybe stop somewhere because a sign caught your attention. Those are my favorite kinds of days anyway.

Then One Day I Know

There isn’t one specific thing that announces fall for me. Nobody flips a switch. I just notice that the air conditioner isn’t running as much. There’s a blanket on the couch again. I’ve made soup twice in one week. There are apples sitting on the kitchen counter, the porch is comfortable in the evening, and I needed a jacket when I went outside that morning.

That’s when I know. Fall finally made it to Georgia. It may disappear again tomorrow. That’s the other thing you learn living here. Never trust the first cool spell. We can have a beautiful 68-degree day followed by one that sends everybody digging their shorts back out of the drawer. I’ve seen enough Georgia weather to know not to pack away anything too early.

So the sandals can stay a little longer. The air conditioner isn’t getting the season off yet. I’ll enjoy the cooler mornings when we get them, start making a few of those recipes I’ve been thinking about, and spend more time on the porch now that the porch isn’t trying to cook me.

When the trees finally turn and I can wear a sweater all day without regretting it, then we’ll talk. Until then, this is Georgia fall. I’ll take it.