Falling Into Faux Fall

Believe it or not, the little video of the pool, at the bottom of this gallery, was taken this past weekend. As much as I hope for cooler weather, a break from the heat and the humidity, the weather simply refuses to turn. We had hope a couple of weekends ago, but then the humidity settled upon us again, like a thick, dense cloud. It dampens my car in the morning, settling in upon all the windows making it difficult for me to clear them and see. It continues to wreak havoc on my hair—causing the fly aways to curl upwards and crown my head with a halo of out of place hair. My breaths are laden with the humidity—attempts at breathing deep simply leave me gasping for crisp cool air.

We are in what is called “faux fall” or “pretend fall”. The time of year where the calendar reads September, the stores start selling gourds, pumpkins, cinnamon brooms. Advertisements for clothes in dark moody hues, browns purples, magentas start bombarding us along with images of sweaters and jeans. Yet, the sheer thought of these things make me sweat.

In an effort to make myself feel less sad, I have to get creative with my clothing. I save things in my closet for this season and every year I seem to acquire a few more pieces. It is an effort to embrace the natural shift occurring in the world around me. The sun hits the earth differently—blessing us with some of the most gorgeous sunsets. Bright brilliant hues that soften into hues of pink and orange—making the average cloud seem nothing short of extraordinary. The heat lingers and is expected to linger here for weeks more. So, I am reaching for clothing that reflects the moody colors of fall but leave me cool enough so I am not sweltering. I begin to paint my nails with those purply magenta, burgundies nail polishes that I save for this favorite time of year.

Will and I have already burned through our fall candle and I am in the process of ordering another for us. August, as Taylor Swift sings “slipped away like a bottle of wine.” Many of the above photos were taken in August when we escaped Charleston’s heat to go to our favorite place, Hendersonville. Summer there feels less abrasive—still plenty of heat and humidity but it is always a lovely respite when we go visit. We continued this summer’s theme of eating loads of ice cream, drinking icy cocktails, and iced chai tea lattes. We sat on our AirBnb’s porch and watched the sky turn from a soft orange to a plum purple—the beginning taste of summer turning to fall.

You see my beginning attempts to embrace faux fall with the change to a magenta leather purse by The Cambridge Satchel Company, paired with a light cotton dress in mustard yellow laced through with magenta decorative flowers and later with a magenta puff sleeved cotton shift. Of course, I have begun to darken my lipsticks, creating a magenta with three different Trish McEvoy lip products.

Tonight, with our air conditioning set to a frost 68 degrees we will gather around our table with bowls on my favorite fall recipe, taco soup. We will continue to find ways to embrace faux fall and look forward to when true fall reveals herself.

I hear the call to slow down, to start getting myself hunkered down in preparation for the winter. It might not yet be cool, but I can feel it in my body and soul the invitation to soften, to care intentionally and gently for myself, to nourish myself deeply.

Wherever you find yourself, I pray and hope that you might be able to answer that call to slow down, get cozy, to soften.

Grace and Peace, Margaret.