Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. I am sure many of you feel the same way.

The temperatures are nearly perfect. The days are still warm enough to get outside, but the nights start getting cooler. Perfect sleeping weather, according to many.

There is a certain “feel” when those summer evenings transcend into autumn. You can hear the crickets chirping and the sky even looks different – day or night. Everything seems clearer and brighter.

The fall weather has the kids now headfirst into the new school year. If you’re a football fan, you have plenty to watch. High school games on Friday nights, college games all day and night on Saturday and professional on Sunday. (Even though now there are college and pro games on different nights.)

The leaves start changing colors and beautiful foliage lines the hills and valleys. Many towns will have festivals as the various reds, orange, yellow, tans and browns mix together like a painting. Our Appalachian Mountains are particularly beautiful in October and even into November.

Even though we know what is around the corner in the cold winter days ahead, we look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.

Many now celebrate Halloween and have trick-or-treat activities in almost every community. Orange jack-o-lanterns line porches and lawns. Decorating for Halloween has become as big as decorations for the Christmas season.

There are the smells and tastes of pumpkin spice coffee for those who like that. There are pumpkin rolls and other cinnamon-style treats like apple cider.

Of course there is all the extra candy we buy to hand out and eat ourselves for trick or treat.

My dad and I used to love to hike in the autumn. You didn’t have to worry about snakes and the weather was usually perfect. We would take a sack to get a bag of black walnuts. We would put them in our basement and once the green husks turned brown, they were ready to crack. My mom would use those in home-cooked brownies and fudge. I remember cracking them with a small hammer and getting stained hands, but getting a cup full for her to put in her tasty baked goods was worth it.

Other foods seem better in the cooler fall season. One thing I always make on the first cool weekend is chili beans. It is also a good time for steaming homemade soups – vegetable beef, potato or just a good pot of pinto beans with cornbread.

Fall is a transition period. It is time to break out those warmer clothes – sweatshirts, hoodies, sweaters and jackets – and put away the tank tops and short pants. Many people prefer wearing warmer, cozy clothing.

Fall is a great time to build a fire and sit around the backyard with family and friends – maybe hearing a few ghost stories and remembering glory days from the past.

Of course it is a fantastic time to get out and enjoy nature. I recall my many walks with my dad. He taught me to identify the different trees by their leaves – oak, maple, sycamore and many others native to our region.

We all love seeing those slow-changing colors as the temperatures get cooler and the trees change. It reminds me of one of my dad’s favorite poems by Robert Frost.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…”

How I would love to have just one more stroll with my father down a dirt country road to enjoy the warm autumn afternoon. Our favorite spot was Millers Creek near Nolan, where I grew up.

When you think about it, life is like the four seasons.

Spring is when flowers and trees bloom and come alive. They start to grow. This is much like a newborn baby growing into a toddler and early childhood.

Summer is like young adulthood. It is more fun to get out and play sports, fish and enjoy living. The weather is warm and the days are long.

Fall is like late adulthood when we get older but still enjoy getting out and doing the things we love, whatever it may be.

Winter is like the later years of life. We get white on top, much like the snow that covers our mountains and hillsides. The days are shorter, like our energy level in the senior years.

But just like the seasons, life has many cycles – each wonderful in its own way.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)