{"id":3451,"date":"2026-02-07T04:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianregency.com\/blog\/?p=3451"},"modified":"2026-02-07T04:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:08:29","slug":"the-first-signs-of-autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/07\/the-first-signs-of-autumn\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Signs of Autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanessa here,<\/p>

\"Fire<\/a><\/div>\n

I stepped out on my porch to a slight breeze. The air kissing my cheek had abandoned all hints of Atlanta’s signature\u00a0heat. After a summer of mostly Seattle like-weather full of rain or horrid humidity, I looked up to spy rain clouds. Nothing. Only sunshine beamed overhead. I guess summer has passed. It’s autumn’s turn to color my world.<\/p>\n

And what colors! Soon reds, yellows, oranges will surround the deep emerald greens of\u00a0my\u00a0evergreens.<\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a>
Fall Leaves Wiki Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Madeline’s Protector, I used the change\u00a0to warm-coloured, cozy\u00a0Autumn\u00a0to\u00a0contrast the hero and heroine’s chilly relationship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If Madeline\u2019s eyes were daggers, she\u2019d be a widow.<\/p>\n

“I suppose you won\u2019t show me your hall of Hampshire sculptures.”<\/p>\n

Her lovely jade eyes clouded, and she looked away.<\/p>\n

He balled up his leather evening gloves. “Pray let\u2019s start over.”<\/p>\n

She gazed at her dainty slippers. “Why? Are you afraid to disappoint my father?”<\/p>\n

Now that strike hit close to home. “I like to pass tests. That\u2019s what my father impressed upon me.” Justain swallowed a deep breath. “What will it take to restore your opinion?”<\/p>\n

She stuck her chin in the air. “To get this visit over as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n

He\u00a0peered through the window. “The leaves are starting to turn. I hope the good folks of this county take the time to admire the colours. The hillside\u2019s striated in three shades of red. This is stunning country, not the moors of Devon, but beautiful.”<\/p>\n

“Why are you tormenting me with a place I\u2019ll never see?” She released a heavy sigh. “The tree roots cling to different sections of the steep ridge adding to the variety. Watch the sunset.” She pointed to the clouds. “Sometimes the sky tries to match the hues of autumn.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps as the sun came closer to earth, it\u2019d thaw the frost between them. “Magnificent,” he said. It was simply beautiful. “God\u2019s paintbrush, I think you called it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I asked my brethren, my fellow Regency\u00a0writers,\u00a0what lets them know Autumn has arrived, and they were kind enough to share:<\/p>\n

Naomi Rawlings<\/p>\n

\"Trees<\/a>
Trees – Wiki Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first sign of autumn for me is the leaves changing. We almost always have cool
\nnights and warm days where we live, but it seems as though the leaves start
\nchanging the beginning of September. Right now, half the leaves across the road
\nare already yellow. School starting is another good indication. In Michigan,
\nschool doesn’t start until after Labor Day . . . right about the time I notice
\nthe first bit of color on the trees.<\/p>\n

Personal Note: Why does school start so early? Back in my day….<\/em>
\nSusan Karsten<\/p>\n

For my family, fall arrives on the heels of an interesting weather phenomenon. Almost every year, there’s a day on which we feel fall arriving. The scenario is this: we’ve had week after week of hot (80s or more) weather, then we’ll have an out of the blue cold\/cool day. Sometimes the cool day has come while we are at the lake. On those occasions, we somberly ride around on our boat, feeling summer slip away and remarking on it.<\/p>\n

\"Boating<\/a>
Boating in Autumn Wiki Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For me, individually, fall arrives when I notice crunching leaves underfoot. That takes me back to the days when I walked to and from school, crunching through elm leaves. Other signs around here are the apple orchards opening their salesrooms, the Canada geese assembling at the nearby wetlands, and for my husband’s business, there’s often a flurry of activity in the real estate business around this time.<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a>
Apple Orchard – Wiki Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kristy Cambron<\/p>\n

The first sign of fall for me is not Regency
\nrelated. I admit that I love a good college football game and when my team takes the field for that first game, autumn is officially here! It’s okay to
\nbreak out the sweaters, drink apple cider, and write books where heroines walk through a fiery-skied and leaf-blown twilight! : )<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Laurie Alice Eakes<\/p>\n

Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. Only one of my books is set over the summer, to autumn time, and they, as I do, look for the way the days cool off sooner and get hot later, especially since I moved to Texas. I love the way the breeze goes from hot, to a hint of coolness. Back in Virginia, the humidity dropped and the smell of the air turned crisp. I haven\u2019t yet noticed a difference in the fragrance to the air here (in Texas).<\/p>\n

Kristi Ann Hunter<\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/a>
Happy Birthday Wiki Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For me, the first sign of fall is a sense of new beginning. I moved around a lot growing up so when the weather turned cold always changed, but the new start was always there.<\/p>\n

Even though I’m out of school there is still a sense of the new year actually starting in September. Could possibly maybe have something to do with my birthday…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you love Autumn? Share an Autumn memory with us, then get out and enjoy the colors.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Originally posted 2013-09-20 10:00:00. <\/small><\/p>

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Vanessa here, I stepped out on my porch to a slight breeze. The air kissing my cheek had abandoned all hints of Atlanta’s signature\u00a0heat. After a summer of mostly Seattle like-weather full of rain or horrid humidity, I looked up to spy rain clouds. Nothing. Only sunshine beamed overhead. I guess summer has passed. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,310,11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-day-in-the-life","category-nature","category-seasons","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/434px-Acer_platanoides_in_autumn_colors.jpg?fit=434%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3451"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3462,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3451\/revisions\/3462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}