Is it fall already? The time of crisp air and cool nights and leaves turning and things made out of pumpkin and cozy sweaters? Oh, how I long for it, but it’s not here quite yet. In Alabama it’s still well into the mid 90s (35 C) every day. But, but! There is hope. The humidity is dying down and signs of fall’s approach are popping up everywhere.

For one thing, college football has started. You know I don’t really care too much about college football (though I will always root for my Oregon Ducks), but it certainly does make it feel like fall. This past weekend, my friends Brunbec and Deebeecooper and I went down to campus to check out the tailgating scene at our first home game. What did I happen to see but the marching band!

Did y’all know I was in marching band in high school? Baritone saxophone, just like Lisa Simpson and Gerry Mulligan and that guy from Morphine. Coolest instrument of all, of course. We were pretty good — we marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade my sophomore year, in fact. Fall and cold weather and itchy uniforms and frozen grass on the practice field. Oh, I feel such nostalgia when I think of my marching band days.

That night we ladies hung around taking goofy pictures:

In the one of me, do you see that vein in my forehead? I call it my flux capacitor. As you can see, it is fully fluxing at the magic number of 1.21 gigawatts. And the cause of all this hilarity?

Yes, wine.

I did not let a night of over-indulgence stop me from going on an epic bike ride the next day, however. My friend E and I have been talking forever about going for a bike ride together and we finally made it happen. It was my first long ride since the triathlon in June and his first since he had a nasty wreck a couple of years back. I think it’s safe to say we each made our return to the roads in style.

I finally broke in this pair of padded bike shorts I bought a couple of months ago. They do indeed feel like a diaper when you are walking around in them, but when you are sitting on a hard bike saddle for 25+ miles of riding, they feel pretty awesome. Not gonna lie. I mean, they do not look good on me, no, but they work.

Our long Sunday ride was wonderful. The weather was warm but not humid, the roads were lonely and the countryside was beautiful. A couple of dead armadillos and trailer parks couldn’t detract from our enjoyment. I think long weekend rides will be just the perfect thing to do this fall (and a great way to add some low-impact cross-training to my marathon plan).

In other fashion news, I have fully embraced the horizontal stripe.

Clinton and Stacey of What Not to Wear fame — and my own mother — can suck it. Horizontal stripes rule. Just putting on a cozy cardigan in the evening makes me think happily about fall, too. With the drier air these days, the evening temperatures are becoming downright …well…not terribly hot. It’s a start, at least, and I’ll take it.

So this Labor Day weekend felt like a perfectly enticing little preview of what’s to come this season. The town is coming to life; friends and fun abound. And sweaters. One cannot forget the sweaters! Maybe soon I will even indulge in a pumpkin spice latte from the old Starbucks. I hope some good things are coming your way this fall, too.