Autumn, now, autumn I love. I'm in the Northern Hemisphere, so autumn is what is happening to me at the moment. There are apples! I love apples in all forms - pie, cider, juice, crumble - but there's something about a raw apple that no other fruit possesses. I have fond memories of clambering around in an apple tree as a kid and sitting in the top branches eating an apple while my frustrated parents tried to make me come down.
(Send me your apple recipes, and I will love you forever. In a fit of passion, I just went out and bought enough Macintoshes for a family of sixteen. I don't have a family of sixteen.)
The other thing that happens in autumn, apples aside, is of course Hallowe'en, which is my second-favorite holiday. I love the old legends behind it, and, like a lot of people who opt to play pirate roleplaying games, I like the chance to dress up and be someone else! Last year, I dressed as a pirate and festooned myself with blank compact discs, and was a software pirate. (Arrrr-haarrr-harrr.)
Oddly, though, I like Hallowe'en even better since I started playing Puzzle Pirates lo these many years ago. My "civilian" pirate still carries around the organ trinket it won in the zombie invasion, and I save up my pieces of eight to buy a mask and a "costume" to go with it. (Yes, I have to save up my pieces of eight - Gaea can magic up money, but my usual pirate has to pillage its little booty off just like everyone else!) I have to say as well that the only thing better than participating in the Hallowe'en festivities is getting to be the person who surprises everyone with them. During the riddle last year, I had so much fun cheering everyone on and teasing you all with hints - the suspense to see who'd be the first person to crack it was positively killing me. The end of October featured some very long days for me, but it was entirely worth it.
I can't wait for this year. I don't think anything will ever top my first Hallowe'en as an OM, but then again, I keep getting surprised.