A meme for a rainy day. We are under a flood watch with more rain coming up from Cuba. This grand meme is from the ever creative Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight. Marianna's answers are in italics, mine are not.

When does fall begin for you?
Autumn begins around October 1 for me, the nights are cooler, the storms that blow across the islands are spectacular. I have the urgings to light candles again as the sky darkens and the lightning flashes.
Autumn begins when the days get cooler and more wind and storms come through.

What is your favorite aspect of fall?
I love so many things about my favorite season: the changing leaves, the crisp air, the shorter days. And I really love the return to routine after the summer.
Down here we don't get the changing of leaves, which is really sad, so I like all of the family time and baking when we find an oven. The smells of Autumn too are a favorite part of mine too.

What is your favorite fall memory?
Clambering on the rocks at Castle Crags in Colorado, a perfect Fall day under that blue Colorado sky.
Baking with family or just hanging around talking about last year and the year before that and such things. Especially when they are tales of your parents and grandparents.

What do you like to drink in the fall?
Apple Cider is the perfect Autumn drink, hot or cold. I have relatives who'd throw a cider making party every October and nothing tastes so good as a cup of the freshest of ciders you just helped press.
Hot Apple Cider! Mmmmm. Delicious!

What's your favorite fall food?
Chili and candy corn!
Thanksgiving - all traditional.

What is fall weather like where you live?
Hot and humid, lots of rain with the occasional cool breeze after a downpour.
The lowest temperature we have ever gotten down here in the Keys that I remember was around the lower fifties, upper forties and that was in December I think.

What color is fall?
Earth tones with highlights of vibrant oranges and reds.
Greens, blues, and yellows. ( Plants, ocean, and sand!)

What does fall smell like?
Spices, crisp apples, woodsmoke when we cross bridges.
Cinnamon, baking, and the occasional chiminea burning merrily!

Holiday shopping in fall: yes or no?
No! I'm a wait for the very last moment shopper as the recipients of my presents can attest! I really should change that but I'm afraid that my entire family would have a simultaneous heart attack if packages arrived right after Thanksgiving.
Depends. We do our shopping in bits and pieces.

If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go?
Colorado, the plains for cottonwood leaf piles to jump in and then a drive through the mountains culminating in a picnic on Rabbit Ears.
Kansas City to see Michelle again.

What is your favorite fall sport?
Sports? I am so un-sporty. Do they have competitive level yoga under a blazing maple tree?
Horseback riding, and hiking.

Do you have a favorite fall chore?
We don't really have a chore that we only do in Fall.
What she said.

What is your least favorite thing about fall?
I miss the warm feeling of flannel shirts under the sun.
I don't have one.

What is your favorite fall holiday? Thanksgiving Day, such a wonderful day for family, food and fun!
All Hallows Eve. The day before All Saints Day.

What's your favorite kind of pie?
Mmmm...apple pies of all kinds! Deep dish, thin galettes, apple pies with raisins or cranberries. Yum!
Apple, Pumpkin, and rhubarb!

What was your favorite Halloween costume?
A slithery green mermaid with ropes of pearls caught by my hard hat diver of a husband.
Of all that I've been my favorite would have to be when I was a Black Puma.

What was your favorite Halloween candy?
Since I consider chocolate a primary food group, I'd have to go with candy corn!
Dark Chocolate! Preferably Dove.

What was your least favorite Halloween candy?
Bit O'Honeys always enticed me in as a kid - oooh! Honey candy! Immediately I'd find my jaws sealed together, utterly gross.
Everything but dark chocolate. Ick on it all!

Which do you prefer, the Farm or the Fair? Fairs seem like a summer thing to me being from the West, so I guess I'd have to go with the Farm though I'd much prefer an option like the Woods as my favorite Farm memories are away from the icky barnyard and out in the Woods.
The Farm

Do you have a favorite fall book?
Blossom Culp books by Richard Peck are a must read right before Halloween. One of the first books I recall making me howl out loud with laughter!
Tasha Tudor. She has done some incredible books!

How about a favorite fall poem?

I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell;
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights
around the shore.
(Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!
(Thomas Hood)
I think that is the funniest thing I've ever read! It makes me laugh everytime.