I’ve heard it said that tourism is all about collecting clichés. When it comes to the enduring clichés associated with the fall season, I don’t need to engage in tourism to collect them. They are right outside my front door.
Central New York has all of the stereotypical/archetypical ingredients of American autumns in spades: pumpkin patches, apple orchards, hayrides, college campuses, trees with vibrant foliage, coffee-shops hawking pumpkin-spice lattes, and spooky, abandoned Victorian houses that could be haunted…if only just by the spirits of the meth cookers who blew up there last week.
One can sneer at clichés, or one can embrace them. In this case, I choose the latter. These past few weeks, I’ve been enjoying all that autumn in my little corner of the world has to offer. Here are a few pictures I’ve taken along the way.
October began in Central New York with August-like weather. We enjoyed a few days of sunny skies and temps in the 80s.Despite the unseasonably warm start, it didn’t take long for gray skies and rain to take their usual place on the October menu.At this writing on October 7, the local fall-foliage season is just starting to get interesting. The next week or two will be quite scenic.Nothing says autumn like a musty old college lecture hall. This is the scene from a window in stately Sheldon Hall on the SUNY Oswego campus. Is there anything better than October baseball when your team is in the playoffs? Millie doesn’t think so.On par with October baseball is October football, especially when your team humiliates a comically over-hyped Dolphins squad by a score of 48-20. Trolling Miami fans on social media afterward is icing on the cake.‘Tis the season for front-lawn graveyard displays……and front-lawn electioneering.It’s hard to pass by a big pile of leaves like this and not want to jump into it. Somehow, Ursa resisted the temptation.
Researcher. Marketer. Teacher. Father of adult children and dogs. 20th Century holdover. Central New York native. Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan. History nerd. Traveler. Vintage advertising enthusiast. Hat wearer.
a.k.a. V.J. 
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