The Virginia weather has already begun its maddening oscillations between crisply chilly and damply warm. This typically begins some time during mid-September. I find myself waking up to a shockingly cool morning and ride giddily in my car with the windows down and the clear, unfiltered sunlight gently massaging warmth into the day. Bright breezes and dappled patterns of shade and light pattern the surfaces beneath trees as their branches rustle and sway. Only a few leaves have begun to turn at this point, with the early shifters revealing select hues of scarlet and amber.
Maybe it’s because the summer’s humidity wicks on a heaviness that makes me dreary by its end, or maybe it’s solely because the weather is just that glorious, but on this first true day of autumn I feel buoyant and bubbly; weightless but filled with joy. You can quickly identify fellow lovers of the season, as they are also brimming with this unspoken agreement towards lightness of heart – not allowing anything to deter themselves from soaking in every second of the beautiful day.
Because we know that in a day or two it will have left us.
During these hours of brilliance and ponies, I have to stop somewhere and get myself a seasonally appropriate drink. For years, this was usually either a pumpkin spice latte or a caramel apple cider from everyone’s corner coffee shop. Now, that drink is Samovar’s masala chai.
Don’t get me wrong. Seasonality doesn’t keep me from blissfully sipping this during the summer – it is absolutely delightful chilled. But, the blend of spices and the creamy caramel tones that the milk [I have used soy, whole, and 2 percent all with great success] and sugar add make the flavor profile delectably autumnal for me.
Earlier this week we went through a cool spell of weather, and so I spent a few hours out on the deck with a blanket, my iPod, my family’s new dog, and a steaming mug of masala chai. Being my last foreseeable autumn in Virginia, I can’t think of another way I’d like to celebrate it.
Happy Autumn! | http://bit.ly/8ZmC9I
And please enjoy this small moment of zen. | http://bit.ly/a8gLXj
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It does the same thing to me — the season. Makes me want to run around in the cold air and sunshine, stomping on leaves, going on hayrides, visiting cider mills. There’s an incredible, romantic nostalgia to autumn. Hands down my favorite season, and not just because I was born in October!
But I, too, look forward to chai season. It has been way too long since my house smelled like chai every morning.
Thanks for the little sensory vacation in words & pictures!
When the hoodies come out of the closet, it’s time for chai. I like to drink it cold during the summer, but it’s just not the same as cold weather chai. Mmmm!
Fall Lovers unite!
Maybe the best tasting note I’ve ever read. Inspiring!
It does the same thing to me — the season. Makes me want to run around in the cold air and sunshine, stomping on leaves, going on hayrides, visiting cider mills. There’s an incredible, romantic nostalgia to autumn. Hands down my favorite season, and not just because I was born in October!
But I, too, look forward to chai season. It has been way too long since my house smelled like chai every morning.
Thanks for the little sensory vacation in words & pictures!
When the hoodies come out of the closet, it’s time for chai. I like to drink it cold during the summer, but it’s just not the same as cold weather chai. Mmmm!
Fall Lovers unite!
Maybe the best tasting note I’ve ever read. Inspiring!