Right on cue, the weather has changed and it feels and smells like fall, say amen! Isn’t it wonderful, that just as you’ve had absolutely enough of the season at hand, a new one takes over?

Here in New Mexico fall means fresh roasted chiles, and you can hardly go anywhere without that heavy, pungent smell as they turn and toast slowly in the hopper. Today I will buy a bushel, package the freshly roasted peppers in small bags and freeze them to have during the coming year.

State Fair is over, Balloon Fiesta is coming up, and in general this is a time of renewed enthusiasm and creativity for me. It’s a funny thing, that just when many living things in this part of the world are preparing for rest and hibernation, I’m getting all revved up, energetic and creative.

So please join me in welcoming autumn back once again: hooray for apples, pumpkins, roasting chiles and the rest of the harvest; red and orange and gold hues along the river just weeks away; clear, crisp, invigorating morning air, and a special hooray to creative types everywhere, may sparks fly and gears crank and colors and shapes and words and notes and movement unfettered spew forth in celebration of the season.