Fall is finally here — my favorite season of the year for so many reasons.

One morning earlier this week I walked out of the house to get in my car and head to work. I just had to stop and take in the view. It was a foggy morning so the sun was kind of a fuzzy dull yellow circle glowing in the ever-brightening Eastern sky, the dew was still on the grass and small patches of bright blue sky were peaking through, promising that the weather was only going to get better as the day went on.

And that’s exactly what happened. When I left work later that morning to go to the post office, I said a grateful prayer for being in Grays Harbor on a gorgeous September day. Not a cloud in the sky and a gentle breeze from the west.

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Niles, Illinois, was helping my dad rake up all the leaves from the Box Elder, Oak, and Maple trees in our yard. We’d pile them in big stacks on the lawn so my friends and our dogs could run and jump into the piles. Then after a few days and before any rain was predicted, Dad would have me help him re-rake the leaves into piles in the gutters. He’d set the leaves on fire and my pals and I would run around the piles laughing and yelping and inhaling that special leaf-burning smell.

I haven’t had a chance to do that since we moved out to the Pacific Northwest, but to this day when I take my evening walk about our culdesac I make it a point to walk along the shoulder where the dried-out brown leaves are gathered and when they crunch beneath my shoes it brings back sweet thoughts of my childhood.

There’s so much more to my love of fall and definitely near the top of my list is my infatuation with anything pumpkin. Pumpkin spice (to add to my twice-weekly hot chai tea drink), pumpkin muffins or pie, or bread. Oh and don’t forget pumpkin seeds. Homemade pumpkin seeds of course. Scooped out of the slimy inner flesh of the pumpkin, washed off, lightly salted and baked in the oven. Absolutely delicious.

And of course there’s football — college football, NFL football — whatever — I’m watching it. We record the games we’re interested in (so we don’t have to watch commercials) and then watch at least 3 games on Saturday and Sunday.

And finally the fall season for my favorite TV shows are starting back up. Not that there’s a ton that we watch but I have missed them over the summer: “Survivor,” “Amazing Race,” “Jeopardy,” “Doc,” “High Potential,” “Grays Anatomy,” “Alone,” and “Naked and Afraid.”

And to balance things out, there are a few negatives about autumn. Any day now I expect to hear the heat pump kick on. And I don’t like that. When I hear that sound I immediately visualize the electric meter spinning faster and faster and my PUD bill going higher and higher. We keep our house quite cool — the heat pump is set to come on when the temperature in the house dips below 62 and every time it clicks on — I cringe.

The absolute worst thing about the fall is the spiders. I don’t care what size, shape, make or model they are — spiders are evil. I know, I know. Spiders are good to have around. They eat flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and other insects. Which is fine — as long as they stay out of my house and away from my doors because if I walk into a web then all day long I’m sure there’s something crawling across by back or through my hair. Yuck. It’s also terrible if I see a spider on the bedroom wall and before I have the chance to smash it, it disappears. How am I supposed to fall asleep in the room that’s occupied by a creepy-crawly?

But I digress. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives when it comes to the features of fall.

Welcome back pumpkins, football, TV shows, beautiful, crisp weather and falling leaves. Stick around as long as you can.