By Ralphine Major

It happens this time every year. Long summer days and the blazing hot sun slowly begin to disappear. Football season has started, the Tennessee Valley Fair has already come to Knoxville, and fall festivals are filling the calendar. The signs are in place. Autumn is showing up in East Tennessee!

Beautiful fall days and gorgeous blue skies! It was our grandmother’s favorite season, and I can understand why. Autumn brings us some of the most lovely scenery. A drive in East Tennessee is like turning the pages of a magazine. Trees are dressed in their finest. It is spectacular to see Autumn’s sunlight filter through orange, red, and yellow leaves!

Festivals of all types are in full swing. Some feature that wonderful fruit called the apple and offer all kinds of tasty treats like apple pies, apple butter, and apple stack cake. Other festivals may show how mouth-watering molasses is made. Nearly every festival gathering will have plenty of big, orange pumpkins on hand. It may be a busy time to try and take in all the fall fun. Even the squirrels are busy gathering nuts to store away for the winter. If the winter of 2016 is anything like this past winter, they may need to gather an extra bunch to carry them through!

The scenery and the smells are appearing all around us. This fall, homes will surely be filled with the aroma of apple cakes and gingerbread baking in the oven. It is almost Autumn in East Tennessee!  Enjoy the moment, for another autumn will soon be gone. I am reminded of the Bible verse in Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV): “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.”

Piddle Diddle Update: Book signing at Barnes & Noble, 8029 Kingston Pike, on Friday, October 9, 6-9 p.m.