Unlike Books and Kimba, I love the Fall. Growing up in North Carolina, Fall meant cooler weather with no humidity, leaves changing to brilliant colors, festivals in almost every town celebrating the different crop harvests and, one of my favorites, the NC State Fair.

Now we've moved to Florida. And it's beautiful here, with water and fountains in every subdivision, sparkling lakes and the ocean only 45 minutes in either direction. It's 75 in the winter and we don't get snow or ice (which I hated in NC). But we also don't get a traditional Fall. It's still 90 degrees here with about 50% humidity. And that won't usually change until mid-October. The leaves don't change colors here. In late December, they just sort of turn brown and drop off the trees. All those beautiful Fall sweaters and pants and boots are useless -- you'd have a heat stroke if you wore a sweater AND boots on the same day! I miss bundling up to go to football games and smelling a hint of wood smoke in the air as fireplaces fired up for the first time in the season.

And I miss those blindingly blue NC days when there were no clouds in the sky, a light breeze was blowing the red and gold and orange leaves around my feet and I could just smell the hint of winter in the crisp air.