My Favorite Time of Year

I've always loved autumn, when the air is crisp and cool and smells fresher than at any other time of year, and when the leaves change from green to glorious. I missed it all those years I lived in Florida.

Something else indicative of fall: The increasing ads for candidates running for election. Personally, I can't wait for the elections to be over. Not because I'm anxious to know the outcome, but because I'm sick of it. I'd like to be able to drive past an open field without it being lined with ads, or pass a telephone pole that's not plastered with some candidate's face. I'd like to be able to watch a TV show without hearing all those attack ads. I've lived in Illinois just over six months, yet I recognize the voice of a candidate in one of the major races (I can't even say which one it is, but it's a big one, since those damn ads have been running as long as I've been up here) without even seeing her, from her opponent saturating the airwaves with coverage of her committing one faux pas after another, always ending with the tagline: "What's she thinking?"

Unfortunately, Election Day comes late this year, since November 1st falls on a Wednesday, pushing the first Tuesday in November back as far as it can go.

It's going to be a long fourteen days . . . .