Pep Talk Issue 12

Welcome to Issue 12 of Pep Talk! Thank you all again for subscribing. Please feel free to share the subscription link widely!

It’s the end of September, you guys! We made it!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Crisp, cool air flooding my lungs on morning runs. Brightly colored leaves slowly fading before they pepper the ground with their crunch. An excuse to pull out the coziest hoodies, sweaters, and leggings. Pumpkin and apple flavored everything. Soup and bread for dinner. Football and cozy couch books. Coffee and tea.

Fall has always been my favorite season. I was the child who loved trips to the store to buy new school supplies for the upcoming year. I spent far too much time labeling the folders for my classes and marveled at the sharp new crayons in my box of sixty-four. As I moved on through high school and college, I still labeled all my notebooks and folders, matching colors for each class. I poured over the reading lists and made a master calendar of when all my assignments were due once I had all my syllabi in hand. I did this because I love feeling organized, but also because I had several jobs in college and a full class load, so I needed some way to visualize my time.

Fall has always been a season of new beginnings for me. I loved school and looked forward to the new year ripe with opportunities to read and learn more. College was the same. I chose classes that I was truly excited about taking (of course, I also had to take some requirements that I didn’t care for) and dedicated myself to the work for those classes.

As an adult, fall still holds the same magic. I taught at university for eight years and I approached my teaching load with the same excitement I brought to learning. I loved planning my syllabi and imagining how students would learn from the readings and activities I planned. We also ran fall marathons every year and, due to the cooler weather, they were often the most enjoyable races we did.

Fall feels like taking a clean, deep breath after suffocating in summer’s heat and humidity for months. It’s easier for me to sleep when it’s cool. Most of my favorite foods are cool weather stars. I love soups. Pumpkin flavored everything will always be a yes from me. Even though the Netherlands isn’t quite as pumpkin spice crazy as the U.S., there are a fair amount of pumpkin infused things here. Coffee and tea taste better. I love squash, kale, and brussels sprouts – all of which are best and freshest when fall arrives.

The fall color pallet is also a thing of beauty. I love the muted reds, golds, and oranges of fall. I love the deep navy and forest greens as well. Unlike summer’s harsh, bright light, the gentle glow of 4:00 on a fall afternoon doesn’t hurt my eyes. I even love a cloudy fall day with dark, moody clouds racing across the sky.

One thing I do miss a little about Milwaukee is the fall foliage. Here, the leaves change a little and fall quickly to the ground. This year, they’re already dry and falling because heat and drought can cause early color change and falling. Fall colors in Milwaukee were typically vivid and beautiful. Paired with the cool, crisp days of a Milwaukee fall, colorful leaves crunching underfoot, releasing their earthy scent was one of my favorite things. I also loved the way the leaves on our street would turn a vivid yellow and hang on to the branches for dear life until the day of the first frost or snow flurries when they would almost all fall to the ground at the same time, as though in a coordinated move.

Fall is also (American) football season and baseball playoff season. As I wrote about in this piece, football has always been one of my favorite sports to watch. The routine of watching games on Sundays never gets old. It looks a little different here in Europe where “early” games don’t start until 7:00 PM. Late afternoon games begin at 10:25 here which leads to some tired Monday mornings. However, football Sundays always feel like an event, and I look forward to them all week.

While many consider fall the start of a season of shutting down and hibernation, I feel the opposite. Fall makes me feel alive. The crisp air wipes away the malaise that dogs me throughout summer. My appetite is better and I have more energy to do things than I do when it’s hot. The season of the sticks (😊) comes after the leaves are gone and, to me, it’s a continuation of fall’s beauty. I don’t see it as a season of death, but rather one of rejuvenation. I love a walk through the woods with leaves crunching underfoot and wisps of sky peeking through the bare branches overhead.

With that, I’m off to make a cup of pumpkin spice tea!

Other Stuff

What I’m Reading: Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson. I’ve always loved Atkinson’s work. Her books touch on British culture and history with an underlying sense of humor to help break the tension. This one takes a fictional look at the post-war Festival of Britain.

The Boerenkool returns! One odd quirk about Dutch grocery stores is that kale (boerenkool) is a seasonal food. It’s only available in the fall and winter AND they only sell it shredded in a package (see picture) which is weird. I’m glad it’s back, though!

With boerenkool, we make pizza: One of my favorite pizza combos is this fall beauty. I roast butternut squash, shallots, and garlic with olive oil, fresh rosemary, a pinch of salt, and red pepper flakes. Then I arrange all this on the crust, sprinkle on the kale, and add grated parmesan. Bake at 425F for 15-18 minutes. It tastes like fall in every bite.

Until Next Week…

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