…The last couple days, our cold water faucet is not putting out hot water. Bye-bye free hot water, and hello autumn!
School’s started. I don’t care what the calendar says, the New Year begins in autumn, when school starts.
I half believe the Chicago Teacher’s Strike lasted a full week because it was still summer warm that week. School couldn’t start until the following week, when light jackets were required in the morning. 
Doesn’t work in some places. Here, the schools started in around early August. One district even started in July.
To say that everyone but the teachers/admins hate this is an understatement.
And then there’s the “year round” districts.
Well of course not. I don’t get free hot water from the tap in summer, either.
It’s too soon to turn on the heat, but too cold to get out’ta bed.
OK, as some of you know, I live in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee, USA (Terra).
We gather every year to celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of the next around a time that our Celtic ancestors called Samhain.
This year, because of scheduling conflicts, we made it the gathering happen this weekend.
So, now it is officially AUTUMN.
And the leaves are doing their best to fall.
On time.
And it is drizzly and 51.5 degrees F as of 1726 EST on 7 Oct 2012.
I just wish that pretty redhead had decided to stay.
When they start to warn of frost.
When they’re roasting the green chiles in the grocery parking lots.
When plant nursery owners sell perennials at half off so they can get rid of their stock before the first frost.
When you see a huge kettle of vultures migrating and have trouble convincing the professional ornithologists that you really did see 40 vultures in 6 minutes and it wasn’t because something had died.
When the first Christmas ornaments and trees appear in the big box stores.
…when you turn on the heat for the first time, and you smell that dusty smell of a furnace that hasn’t been used for several months.
From the other hemisphere I know that spring’s here because daylight saving started over the weekend and I’m no longer being woken by the very early sunrises.
I know Spring’s here when the winds start. Sure enough, in the first week of September this year we had winds strong enough to bring down trees. On my birthday (September 5) we were without electricity for 12 hours, had two trees fall down across our driveway and our cleaners had to cancel because they had a tree fall in front of their car and were stuck waiting for the State Emergency Service to clear the road for them. It was a memorable birthday 
That sharp, crisp, almost metallic smell in the morning between dawn and sunrise.
Mmmm … when you wake to that oddly familiar hissing noise - it takes you a while to place it as the steam from the radiators …
Considering it hit 100 degrees last week, we don’t really go by the weather. For us, Fall begins when my son’s school lets out for fall break. Usually the first 2 weeks in October.
Apple season here in TN.
Two of us got together to make a dehydrator to make apple chips.
First batch by the end of the week.
You know it’s Autumn when…
…the beaches are empty and you can snap out your towel wherever you want to.
Gagundathar you know you live in my old stompin’ grounds, don’t you? Maybe we should swap houses sometime for a change of pace. 
Eliahna, Happy belated Birthday.
When the mice in the walls get so loud it sounds like they’re tossing around freaking marbles. I don’t even want to know what they’re doing in there to make such noise.
When I can’t ride either before or after work because there’s not enough light
When the pumpkins are everywhere and every cafe sells hot cider, it’s autumn. When I can finally use tights and jackets to make my work uniform look professional and the air outside makes me feel more awake. What really makes it sink in is when my students play with fallen leaves at recess.
On a related note, an unseasonably warm day leads to the utterly bizarre situation where you take a train past trees covered in red leaves to the beach, where you swim in the ocean. Every stroke you swim, some part of your mind is marveling that it is, in fact, October.
When my car blower fan gets a leaf sucked into it.
When women stop wearing capri pants to work. YES!
When we all remember where we left our ice scrapers.
When the sheets feel cool when you get into bed.
When all the convenience stores start selling cider.
The supermarket is selling pumpkins and is full of Halloween candy. Some lawns have sprouted skulls and ghosts.