Today is the first official day of fall, and it makes me happy. It means that school’s started up again, I’ve celebrated Mom’s birthday and my sister’s is around the corner with Halloween waiting in the eaves. It also means that the weather will be cooling off soon. And the trees are on fire.

Literally.

I read about the fall colors in the rest of the country, and I don’t really understand that idea. But then the colors are described in terms of fire, as though the plants are on fire, which is an image I can get behind.

I’ve lived in Southern California my whole life, and when other people are looking out for snow as the year marches through September toward October, I keep the shorts on and an eye out for smoke. Autumn here is marked by the fall of embers instead of leaves, and the birds we see migrating through are the fixed wing and other modified water/retardant dropping aircraft.

And though it’s nerve wracking to watch flames march around where you live, there’s an element of comfort in the consistency of the seasons.

I orginially wrote this on the actual first day of fall, while the Station Fire was still uncontained and fires had started close to my parents’ house. Due to technical difficulties (namely the lack of internet at my grandmother’s house), I could not post it until this date.