Ah, Autumn!

jane: Well, I KNEW this would happen – as soon as I spent three hours last week switching my wardrobe from tees and capris to sweaters and corduroys, temperatures spiked. So now we've turned off the heat, rolled down the comforter, and watered the lawn. And because I'm sweltering, I've had to dig out some tops I'd already packed away in our old cedar chest.

It's Murphy's Law. When you wash your windows or your car, it rains. When you check the weather forecast, see it's predicting precipitation, and dash out to fertilize the grass (well, at least Rich does), of course then the heavens dry up and the fertilizer doesn't get watered in. Go figure!

But even with the warmer temperatures, I'm loving this weather, Betsey. We just returned from a splendid weekend hiking around Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Our trek to Wisconsin is an annual Struck Family outing that had its genesis in our post-college days, when Rich and I frequently camped there with rock-climber friends who rappelled off the sturdy bluffs that guard this gem of a glacial lake. Once our daughters were old enough to “hike” (bribed by a steady supply of juice boxes and fun fruits), we started allocating a weekend every October to return there with the dog in tow. On every one of our Devil's Lake escapes, our family has hiked the same trails, eaten at the same restaurants (the Old Schoolhouse for pizza!), and always – I mean always – made a pilgrimage to Ski-Hi Fruit Farm, home of the best apple pie I've found this side of my Nana's. This year we brought back two pies, and I'm in heaven! Our grown daughters still remember and savor this tradition, and next October, we hope our entire family – including our new grandbaby – will join us in carrying it on yet another year.

What about you, Betsey? Do you have any autumn traditions you've been enjoying this fall?

betsey: Well, my birthday, for one – I’ve always been really proud to be an October baby, because truly, October is the most gorgeous month. This year in particular it’s been living up to advance billing. All of a sudden (or so it seems) the leaves around us have burst into unusually intense – and, I think, early – color. Fritz and I love to go for color drives, and really, we don’t have to go far to find it. I look out our bedroom window and our big maples are turning red-gold – it starts at the top and works its way down. I have a theory that leaves turn at night, and I like to think of a Disney-like Jack Frost doing his work as we sleep.

Of all the seasons, autumn lends itself to nostalgia. I think of "Injun Summer,"

John T. McCutcheon, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 30, 1907

the wonderful old painting that always used to run on the cover of the Tribune magazine, and usually your teacher would put it up . . . my dad, carving pumpkins so expertly and me, little, hating the smell . . . bonfires and wood smoke everywhere . . . going with my then-boyfriend to a high-school football game (because you do anything for your beloved when you’re dating) and freezing my face off. That timeless, suspended quality of melancholy November, between the color and the coming of Christ.

jane: Autumn fills me with nostalgia, too. As a child, I loved October and especially Halloween. Being a creative kid, I happily drew haunted houses and spooky trees on manila paper with my crayons, and read ghost stories by flashlight in my bed. But those were simpler, more innocent times, when Halloween just wasn't as big (and creepy) a deal. Now October means apple-picking and raking and scented candles and cozy throws and my well-worn barn coat and my favorite “comfort foods”: green chicken chili, veggie cobbler, meat loaf, homemade manicotti, and, of course, pumpkin bread, Gerty's brownies, and cranberry coffee cake!

My father's birthday is in October, so each year I try to make the six-hour drive to Michigan to celebrate it with my folks. During these visits, Mom and I always shop at Hunter Country Store in Birmingham and poke around their local Orvis . . . our shopping together, well, that's tradition my dad understands. And three years ago, our eldest daughter Sarah was married on a beautiful October Saturday. That event adds to the cluster of happy memories I hold of Octobers present and past.

betsey: That’s right! Three years! Happy anniversary, Sarah and Mike and “little one to come.” November is our big family month, with our wedding anniversary and Amanda’s birthday, both falling around Thanksgiving time.

And your recipes sound mouth-watering. We always go to the farmers’ market and get probably too many apples – Winesap, sometimes Cortland, Paula Reds, Northern Spy when you can find them. I love the way they look, smell, everything. Sometimes I just like to slice the firmer ones and saute them in, yes, a little butter and broth, sprinkle with mace and a little honey, and serve with pork. The Winesaps make outstanding pie in my experience.

jane: This is the first year we've tried Honey Crisps. Everyone's been telling us about them. I usually load up on Cortlands, but I have to admit, Honey Crisps are delicious! Betsey, you've got to give them a try.

betsey: Fall makes me feel close to my dad, who’s been gone for years but loved seeing geese in flight and spent hours and hours raking leaves the old-fashioned way - and we had a big yard. I love the poignancy of autumn: you know the beauty is fleeting, so it’s very precious.

jane: Autumn will always be my favorite time of year. I can't imagine not smelling sweet woodsmoke on an evening breeze, watching cold stars glitter in a clear, hard sky, enjoying late-blooming asters - their blast of brilliant purple exploding in the sun - and reveling in the kaleidoscope of vivid red, rust, and yellow leaves. All too quickly the dark descends – leading to, as you so aptly said, the melancholy that exists between the colors and the coming of Christ.

This is a poignant, precious season indeed . . . aching in its beauty, bittersweet in its brevity. Just like life, isn't it? So let's savor it to the fullest and fight back the deepening gloom with the joys of hearth and home, knowing springtime will once again be just around the corner.