There is something gratuitously glorious about fall in places full of deciduous trees. Spring flowers make sense — attracting pollinators and the like. But fall color feels like more of a bonus.
Of course there is more to fall than simply peak October leaves. In my part of Pennsylvania, September is something of a bridge month, technically late summer most of the time, but feeling different, with the light slanting and the overgrown green mottling around the edges. November is one of my favorite months of the year. It starts with blazing red maples, travels through the harvest themes of Thanksgiving, and ends with the coming coziness of the holidays.
Anyway, all that is to say that fall deserves its own seasonal fun list. So here it is — the things I want to do to really appreciate this season!
Go to Maine. A work trip to Portland – one of the cutest cities ever. Lobster must be consumed at some point. In September in Maine, there’s already a nip of fall in the evening and early morning air.
Run a half marathon. Fall is for distance running and I have a race coming up soon. I’m not as trained as I’d like. I never am. But I have done two 10-milers and two 8-milers and so it could be worse.
See the bird migration. We could visit either Cape May or Hawk Mountain — both have some fantastic bird watching in early fall.
Take a leaf peeping trip. We’re planning to go visit my brother in upstate New York for a weekend. We went for his wedding last year and had such a wonderful time. In future years I’d like to make a Vermont/New Hampshire type trip during the peak foliage season. There are some road routes that are known for being fabulous.
Go on a fall hike. Closer to home perhaps, but I want to get the kids out for some long walks in pretty leaves.
Go to a Halloween-themed event. We will go to at least one “Boo at the Zoo” type extravaganza — maybe that or a theme park Halloween fest. My 12-year-old wore his inflatable T-rex costume to the zoo last year and the cheetahs were totally tracking him and eyeing him as a threat!
Drink apple cider/go apple picking. So we already went apple picking once (to get Honeycrisps while they are ripe!) but I’m happy to go again. I’m sure I can find some sort of Cider Fest around here and make a day of it.
Listen to fall-themed music. Listening to Appalachian Spring was such a cool part of that season this year and so I’d like to pick a seasonally appropriate classical work and get to know it well. But what should that be? Other than Vivaldi’s Four Seasons I’m not sure!
Take family photos. This isn’t always “fun” per se in the moment, but I’m happy to have them, and peak fall leaves is a good time (they make pretty Christmas cards).
Celebrate the launch of Tranquility by Tuesday! I just started my official pre-order campaign. Order before October 11 and you’ll get an early excerpt, a TBT Scorecard so you can track how you’re doing on the rules, an invite to a Zoom book discussion in October and early access to my TBT In Real Life videos. If you pre-order just fill out the forms on this page to get the bonuses. Thank you!
What’s on your fall fun list?
Not classical per se, but I adored this playlist last fall.
https://youtu.be/n5bIhglTLbk
The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams reminds me of fall. Maybe 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus?
I like how your seasonal fun lists are always a combination of adventures and accomplishments. I think it’s a nice balance.
What about classical piece in the Hallowe’en spirit, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Or the opera Turn of the Screw? or Brahm’s requiem, particularly the second movement? (Brahms always feels like autumn to me, particularly his chamber music.)
Or, if you like Lieder/ art songs – Schubert’s The Erlkoenig. Stanford’s La Belle Dame Sans Merci are both pretty chilling.
And for something lighter, the song Try to Remember from Fantastiks is full of autumnal longing. (I know it’s just one song so maybe not really deep dive material, but you could make a playlist…)
I also associate the opera Eugene Onegin with fall, but that’s probably because I worked on a production once where one scene had leaves falling continuously from the flies and the leaves got everywhere. But the effect onstage was gorgeous.
Fall is my favourite season. It is one huge benefit of living at our latitude. Warm days, crisp mornings, fresh produce…and stunning natural beauty. I love everything about fall…and then tend to loathe just about everything about winter. Nevertheless, I try to soak up all the unique adventures and pleasures associated with this glorious season and know even though the snow will start to fly eventually, there is so much joy to be experienced over the next few months.
Truly love this list! I have certain singer/songwriters I associate with fall — Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, The Mountain Goats.
I will create my own list next week. This one covers a lot of bases, though! I feel like mine will include something to induce fall scents since we don’t really have any natural ones around here!!
In the high school band we played the song October by Eric Whitacre. It’s really beautiful.
Danse macabre from Camille Saint-Saëns is nice and spooky for Halloween!
Perhaps as a choral singer you already know these, but the Requiem masses by Durufle (https://youtu.be/c-RiYOpaYVw) and Faure? Our church choir sings these each year on All Souls in early November, so they have an autumn association for me.
I was just in Portland, Maine, and loved Scales restaurant for seafood! And Tandem Coffee.
We want to:
-go to a pumpkin farm where they have kid activities
-go to a college soccer game
-decorate for Halloween
– for the adults, attend some kind of Oktoberfest thing
-for me, have at least one Pumpkin spice latte (they are so overly sweet but also so good)
Going on a cruise through Maritime Canada with a couple of stops in New England this fall. Portland is a stop and a lobster roll somewhere is a must. I second the recommendation for Scales, and would also add The Holy Donut (pre-order online to avoid standing in line) or Two Fat Cats bakery. They have a nice farmer’s market if you are there on a Saturday.
My list:
1. Soak up whatever fall things we see on the cruise. We start in Quebec City, which I have never visited-very much looking forward to that. After the cruise, we’ll be at our Marco island timeshare for several weeks, where I am hoping not to have to work remotely too much. I’m a little sad about missing the peak October fall season in the Mid-Atlantic, but our soon-to-be forfeited 2020 cruise credits needed to be used or would be lost.
2. Enjoy September Thursday noon hikes in a local park with a local hiking group. This is a weekly little adventure, made all the more fun because I have made 2 new friends as a result of my prior participation.
3. Meet up with 2 friends who live about an hour or so away (so too far to make spontaneous plans). One will join me on a local hike this Sunday (with coffee beforehand) and the other will meet me for lunch later this month and impart the Quebec City wisdom that she gleaned from a family trip this summer.
4. Watch the changing of the guard in the UK as the Queen is given a final farewell. We attended the Braemar Highland Games near Balmoral 8 or 9 years ago and she was there. I got chills as the crowd sang, “God Save The Queen” while she was among us. Her limo also passed within 10 feet of us as we were walking back to our car. Charles was there and was quite enthusiastic as he watched the “tossing of the caber.” Picture hulking men tossing something resembling a telephone pole that tumbles end over end…..
5. Go to see Ringo Starr in concert, which will mark the 3rd Beatle that I have seen performing live.
6. Celebrate the 90th birthday of my husband’s aunt at a cousin’s reunion. She is an example of someone who enjoys continuous weekly adventures even at an advanced age-she hosted Wii bowling with friends in her apartment every week until she turned 89, and still posts jokes on Facebook.
7. Find somewhere local to pick apples right before our cruise and figure out how to store them in a cool place so that they last until we get back.
I love all of the music suggestions!
Pianist George Winston has a lovely album called Autumn—actually he has one for just about every season, I think. My mom played him while I was growing up and when I got homesick in college, particularly during my first semester in the fall, I would put on his music and feel comforted.
I live in New Hampshire and we’ve started making fall trips up to Littleton, which is a super cute town and close to a theme park called Santa’s Village that I grew up going to. It’s actually a pretty nice theme park and good even for littler kids, and they are open on weekends through October. It has been fun to go back with my parents, my brother and his family, and my family now that my brother and I are adults with families of our own.
I also love all of these music suggestions and Fall Fun ideas!
Please ask for music suggestions in your winter list again, love all these tips!