It still feels like summer on my island—30C and sunny every day, with no sign of letting up. But it’s autumn back in North America. My favourite time of year.
Fall is nostalgia distilled into the tangible caress of cool air tinted with the smell of decaying leaves. The comforting pressure of jeans against your skin. A light jacket with many pockets. And a slice of delicately spiced pumpkin pie.
It’s a time to think about the closing of the year—and the waning of the years.
It’s melancholy, but in the sense of time and life slowly slipping away.
It’s a season to reflect and remember as you sit staring into a flickering flame.
Let us raise a glass to this most nostalgic time of year. A toast to my fellow travelers—and 15 indulgences I would wish for you.
1. The smell of woodsmoke, a comfortable armchair, a warm mug of tea, a single cookie and a shelf of good books.
2. A cat to warm your lap, or a dog curled up at your feet.
3. Your own copy of Vagabond Dreams, lovingly inscribed by the author.
4. A business class Round the World ticket, with as many stops as you like.
5. The Complete Far Side collection—because there’s nothing better than a good stomach-cramping giggle, especially the kind that throws you to the floor and makes you kick your feet like a schoolgirl (or a Memphis detective).
6. A steady flow of work that fulfills you.
7. Friends—good friends, the kind you can pick right back up with as though years had never passed.
8. A bottle of fine armagnac to warm those autumn nights.
9. An Amazon gift card loaded up with travel classics.
10. Damaged / Controlled by GB3 — the perfect melancholy sound of Fall.
11. A random phone call from someone you miss.
12. The sound of gravel crunching beneath your hiking boots.
13. Fresh insights about your life to bring comfort to the past and excitement for the future.
14. Poetry. Not just on the shelf, but in every aspect of your life.
15. A lifetime of memories that you can play over in your head. And a notebook full of plans to research while Winter’s grip has plunged the north into darkness.
Here’s to autumn. And to travels past and future.
And to you.
What wonderful images you have conjured up, Ryan! Thank you for this thoughtful post 🙂
Glad you liked it B 🙂
A long long stroll through the forests…picking mushrooms, and in the evening, serving them, roasted, with home made pasta.
A big pot of lapsang souchon
“Bryter Layter” by Nick Drake
a well written summary about my favourite season
Excellent additions to the list!
well said, I don’t think I could add another thing, although as you know my dream in life is to live on an island with a telephone that only makes outgoing calls, no incoming!
I would love to have no phone at all. Just email – because that can be filtered.