Celebrating Fall in Provence

Hello dear readers and friends.  It’s been a week of chilly temperatures, slightly grumpy moods (no one ’round here really likes the idea of summer being over), and busy work schedules. Despite the changes the season has brought, I’m still quite happy to be here, living through my third fall in Provence.  Today I’m sharing a few thoughts on the season…

Fall in Provence is chestnuts, figs, pears, peaches, and grapes… and trying to find as many recipes as possible to take advantage of them all. It’s also mushrooms, turnips, and pumpkins… to be incorporated into hearty soups and savory tarts or gratins, or whatever has been carefully created in the seasonal food magazines… It’s weekend lunches spent huddled over warm bowls of soupe au pistou, daube stew, or a chance to dig into a thick, fire-roasted steak from your favorite bistro.

Fall in Provence is thunderstorms in the morning, bright sunshine in the afternoon, and trying to navigate a climate that changes from sweater-friendly to bikini-ready in the span of a few hours. It’s taking down your boxes of coats, scarves, and boots while keeping a small corner in the closet for shorts, T-shirts, and sandals. This year, on the streets and in the shops, fall is also thin, oversized-sweaters that hang (carefully) off your shoulder, suede ankle boots, and long, feather-earrings on slim gold chains.

Fall in Provence is grape harvests, chocolate festivals, and sailing regattas. It’s late holiday-goers arriving on cruise ships, scooping up last gelatos along the port, and caravanning to bargain hunt at local villages. It’s also avoiding the biting Mistral winds, fighting the lunch crowds to buy a forgotten umbrella, and lamenting the loss of the glorious South-of-France summer.

Fall is Provence is a chance to slow down, draw the shutters, and prepare for the deceptively-cold southern winter. It’s a time to live inside, pick up old projects and start a few new ones, and above all, savor all the change around you.

How’s fall in your corner of the world?