Friday 5 for October 1: Up and Autumn

Time for the Friday 5! I've sort of lumped autumn and winter together, because for me once the cold starts it's just fucking cold. And the cold has started and the season is cold.

Where do you rank October among the twelve months of the year?

October is pretty good. July and November are number one, because they are the months my sons were born in. Also, November has Thanksgiving and that's my favorite holiday. October is number two, because Halloween!!! I love costumes!!! After that, I don't really rank much.

But I like fall just for itself too. I used to love fall more than anything. The chill made my blood sing. Not so much anymore. I'm forty-four this year and I feel the cold much more deeply than even just ten years ago. It makes me incredibly cranky. Mean, bitchy, get-the-fuck-out-of-my-way cranky. It's hard for me to get warm and stay warm. Also my appetite cranks itself up to eleven and is scorning fruit and vegetables. It wants meat and cheese, meat and cheese, meat and cheese. And cookies. But mostly meat and cheese.

Mine!! If you bring me a cookie, I MIGHT give you some cheese.
But it better be a good cookie.

What time is the sun coming up where you live, and how does it affect your life or schedule?

Eh, I have to look that up. Hang on. Sometime around six-fifteen or so, I think. Nope, Google says the sun rose in my area at 6:49 am today. Guess I was seeing the pre-dawn glow.

It affects my life and/or schedule not a jot. I usually get up earlier than that, anywhere from five to six am. Usually. I have to force myself awake every time. I'm not a morning person. But even on the occasional sleep in days the sunrise doesn't wake me. My bedroom is situated such that there isn't any strong sunlight coming in through the windows. 

I don't live anywhere near the beach. But if I did I think I'd definitely like the sunrise a lot more.

How do you manage to get enough fresh air and exercise in bad-weather months?

I take martial arts classes. I take them all year round, but in the winter months that's a still a respectable amount of exercise three days a week even if I don't go for runs or walks or bike rides. I practice katas and forms and combos at home too.

Fresh air is a bit of a different subject. See up there on the first question, where we discussed my deeply-held hatred of being cold? But I'm lucky. I live in very small town surrounded by cornfields. If I really need to I can put on five layers of clothes and go for a walk. And sometimes the driveway needs to be shoveled too. Usually my husband just uses the snow blower, but if the snow starts during the day and it's really coming down I dig out the back porch before he gets home. 

Talk to the hand, Old Man Winter. 
Mulan image property of Disney. I think.

Holidays and weather aside, what are the best and worst things about the autumn months?

The smell of wood smoke. People start using their fireplaces and some of them are still wood-burning. Burning leaves, people are allowed to do that here.

I know these things are pollutants and I shouldn't love them. But I do. There's something about those scents...I don't know if comforting is the right word. It just strikes something in me. Something primal maybe. I mean, I do like the smell of a wood fire during the summer. But when it's cold out, smelling wood smoke on the air evokes a different feeling.

Image courtesy of The Roots of Our Tree

Hm. I like this particular line of thought. Good reflections and emotions for several of my books. Boo yeah! Thanks, Friday 5 person!

What are some good songs for the soundtrack of the season?

Don't Fear The Reaper...
Okay, maybe fear him a little bit.
He's not too careful about avoiding collateral damage.
Wait...that's not The Reaper.

That soundless sound you don't hear is me blinking. I don't have a soundtrack of the season. I like Halloween-type soundtracks for October. But I don't have an overall soundtrack for fall. I'm not even sure how I'd do that. That's not how my brain works. I have soundtracks, but they relate to music that inspires me while writing certain kinds of scenes for my stories. They don't have much to do with real life and seasons.

There. Don't fear The Reaper. He's somebody's grandfather, fer goshsakes.