This week marks the 50th anniversary of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." It was on Oct. 27, 1966, that Lucy first pulled her cruel ball-fake on poor ol' Charlie Brown, leaving the former laughing, and the latter lying sad-sacked on the ground.
The 2016-17 NBA season tips off Tuesday night in Cleveland, and, depending on what happened this weekend, the Cubs may be in the World Series.
The members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins are fond of telling those who come close to NFL perfection, "Don't call me when you're in my neighborhood. Call me when you're on my doorstep." It is in that same vein that I will withhold writing about the Cubbies until they're one step closer, and depending on the timing, after they've won the World Series.
This week it's all about fall. It is, after all, and as aforementioned, that time of year for the Great Pumpkin and a punked-out Charlie Brown.
If you cue up the clip, or "GIF," as the kids call them these days, of CB's field-goal whiff, you'll see something seasonal. Leaves on the ground.
The forecast calls for sun and temperatures in the mid-60s all week. Get outside.
Despite the best efforts of the slightly warm for the season temperatures of last week to distract me, I noticed the leaves have begun to change colors, and, with the help of the wind, to fall and to be blown around.
Almost in a previous life, at least in a different decade, I had an ex-girlfriend that had family in Vermont — the Mecca for so-called "leaf peeping/peepers" and a place where fall's foliage was in full bloom and on its brightest and fullest display.
Maybe it was driving in a bit late on Friday morning, during the so-called "golden hour" of the morning where the light is a bit "cooler" according to photographic terminology. But, I was taken back to a trip I once made to Vermont during what I was told would be the peak of "peeping" season.
The leaves, particularly the brightness of their red, orange and yellow colors just seemed to have an extra pop to them.
Pumpkin pick'n and pumpkin chuck'n may not be sports. (Though I've been told a lot of people really enjoy a bit of the medieval-inspired revelry and/or the modern day engineering as a sport surrounding the latter.) But, in this briefest of mid-Atlantic windows — with fall and spring being our shortest seasons here — get outside and do something you love.
Play a round of golf. It's so much more fun in the fall. You've got a full spring and summer worth of practice, so you may be prepped to have your best (or at least your least frustrating) round of the year. The cooler temperatures mean you'll be less fatigued (if that's a thing in golf), and may be able, sunlight permitting, to squeeze out a few extra holes.
For those who will never see or play a round of golf in Ireland, Scotland, or the UK, fall golf and the winds that come out to play gives golfers a chance to enjoy and envision a round of golf on a windy links course, sans the truly bitter, coastal, two-or-three-club-lengths-difference winds or chill-you-to-the-bone rains that seem omnipresent on the courses in the British Isles this time of year.
If golf's not your game, get out and go for a run. The county has done a great job of adding to and converting additional rails to trails and the like. No need to run around a track, through your neighborhood, downtown, or along a road. Get out, find a trail — maybe even head up to the NCR trail, or over to Hashawha for a true trail-running experience. And, given the vibrancy of the colors of the season — of the leaves on the trees — leave your headphones at home.
Let your ocular senses enjoy some time in the sun, literally so, taking in a little color-derived sensory over-load out among the trees.
If running's not your thing, hop on a bike, sub it for running in the paragraph above, reread, and pedal away. Maybe just go for a walk. Heck, if you head over to Hashawha you can even call it a hike if you'd like.
Get outside and play catch. (Or, go "have a catch" if that's your thing, and the way you say it.)
Have a boat, canoe, or even a SUP board — head out to a nearby lake or reservoir.
Gather up the gang and get in a game of football or street hockey.
Thanksgiving's a month away. You can play today in the name or for the sake of practicing for your friends and family's version of an annual Turkey Bowl or day-after Thanksgiving hockey-fest.
And, if bundling up and running, in the name of charity on Thanksgiving is your thing, well, you'd better get out and start training now; leaving the added layers at home.
Get out and get your fun and literal kicks in outside while the sun's still shining and the temperatures are holding steady in the mid-60s. Hopefully nobody plays the spoiler, Lucy, to your football (or other sports) among friends, Charlie Brown.
As an added bonus, peep those pretty, vibrant leaves while you can, before they all fall because, like its omni- or perma-pending imminence on HBO's "Game of Thrones" — "Winter is coming for us all."
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