Is it not interesting that as one goes through life, they start taking things for granted, becoming blasé about surroundings and events that occur at an on-going basis. Like anyone, I stand guilty of that, especially when it comes to the season of Autumn.

Having lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina my entire life, I’ve seen how the different temperate seasons play such a big part in our economy, especially here in Asheville which is considered a tourist destination. Even our local minor league baseball team acknowledges that fact; they’re known as the Asheville Tourists. And in the summer and fall, our city and area, hotels and restaurants, are jam-packed with visitors. As a kid, it was always fun to see how many out-of-state license plates we could see when we were out driving around.

Without a doubt, fall is a beautifully majestic, colorful time here in the mountains. Being located near the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Asheville is called the Land of the Sky, located in what is known as the High Country. Is it any wonder that the area is swarmed with visitors who come to see the changing of the colors? I even remember my parents would always load me and my brother up in the car and take a trip to the hills so we could enjoy the changing of the season. But that was way back when, and over the years, the coming of fall has come to me to be the time when the weather starts getting cooler – I hate the cold! – and the time to get the rake out and start cleaning up all the leaves. Yes, Autumn is also known as fall because that’s when the leaves fall. So can I be faulted by being so jaded about the coming of “fall”?

The view from our front porch.

However, over the past five years, my outlook has changed to an extent due to looking at this time of the year through the eyes of another, that being the better-half-of me, my wife Lynndee. Coming here to the US from a tropical country, the Philippines, marrying me was not the only major change in her life. Being exposed to the changing of the seasons was something she’d never experienced.

They only have two official season in the Philippines, those being the Dry Season (tag-araw) – November to April, and the Rainy Season (tag-ulan) – May to October. What we call our seasons are acknowledged in an unofficial way there:  Winter/Cold Season (taglamig) –  November to January; Summer/Hot Season (taginit) – March to May; Spring or when things grow (tagsibol); and Autumn, or when things die off (taglagas). But to me, all the time I’ve spent in that beautiful country, I considered it to be a land of eternal summer because I couldn’t tell the difference from one season to the next. What opened my eyes to my mistake was Lynndee’s reaction on arriving here in the US.

In late November of 2010, I flew to the Philippines to bring Lynndee and her son, Yogi back to the US; I had arranged all this by getting her a fiancé visa. But in a way, this was also a vacation for me for I stayed a week before we began the journey back. During that time, not only did I get to spend time with her family and friends, I also got to attend her brother’s wedding, quite a gala affair. I even wore the traditional Barong at the ceremony, a special memory. But then the time came to begin her and Yogi’s great adventure.

We left her hometown of General Santos City on the island of Mindanao and flew to Manila. Her location of residence gives reason for her acclimation to hot weather because the city is only 4 degrees from the equator. On arriving in Manila, we spent the night there after taking care of some official paperwork allowing her to leave the country. No matter the country, there’s always a bureaucracy to deal with.

The following morning, we left Manila bound for Tokyo to catch our flight to the US. That was the killer of all red-eye flights; it took twelve hours to arrive in Atlanta, her and Yogi’s point of entry. There, we dealt with more bureaucracy getting them through customs, and then it was on to our little short hop from Atlanta to Asheville, a little less than an hour.

On arriving there, we grabbed our luggage and headed out the door which was truly an experience for Lynndee. On walking out the door, the first thing I heard from Lynndee was an exclamation of, “OOOOOOH! It’s so cold!” I looked at her, not realizing that it was her first ever exposure to such a temperature, though to me it was no big deal, being in the mid-to-high 40’s. But seeing that the lowest temperature she’d ever experienced was in the 70’s, I came to understand her reaction.

Ironically though, since that time, she has come to love the differences in temperature and has especially fell in love with fall because of the changing of the colors, something not seen in the Philippines. And to cap off her new life, her first Christmas here the following month was a white one, that being the first time her and Yogi had ever seen snow.

And another view from our front porch; the front yard. You can see what awaits me when the weather gets dry.

So, yeah, I have began to see this time of year in a new light, though I still do have my issues with it, mostly that of all the leaves. And this year has been totally different. Due to the dry summer we had, almost drought conditions, the leaves began early defoliation in July, falling without even changing color, though the change in color did finally reach our lower elevation to an extent. Since I have fourteen Maple trees surrounding our abode, I’ve already had a lot of work to do. Fortunately, I’ve graduated from using a rake because I have a leaf blower, making my life so much easier. In the near future, though, we plan to return to the Philippines where I will retire, saying goodbye to leaves and cold weather. Then maybe I will truly come to love Autumn and come back as a tourist to enjoy the season and the colors without having to deal with cleaning up all those leaves. As it stands now, we’ve had plenty of rain the last couple of weeks, which has almost knocked off the rest of the leaves, and seeing that it’s been so wet, I have to wait for all to dry before I can blow them off. So fun times ahead for me. Anybody want to come and help?