Sunday Stealing – Autumn Questions

The Sunday Stealing from WTIT: The Blog involves autumn questions.

1. Are there any fall-specific hobbies or crafts you enjoy pursuing?

Do I have ANY hobbies at all, aside from doing genealogy? I think not. I used to collect comic books but essentially quit in 1994. And I’m not at all crafty in any season.

2. Do you have any favorite fall-inspired recipes you like to cook or bake?

Nope.

3. Are you a fan of Halloween? If so, what’s been your favorite costume?

My interest in Halloween has waxed and waned my whole life. I’m sure I went trick-or-treating as a kid, but I do not recall a particular costume. Then I stopped, but I know I dressed up at least once in college.

I’m oddly fond of the one above from 1980. The mask came from FantaCo, where I worked. That’s my college graduation robe, but I don’t recall the source of the hat. There’s actually a better photo of me in this costume, which I cannot find. I’m leaning on my girlfriend’s car reading the New York Daily News’ Sunday funnies, and I look really cool, and I do say so myself.

I liked Halloween when my daughter was a kid, but now? Meh. I used to come up with holiday-themes in this blog, but that’s fallen off.

NOT on an open fire

4.  Do you have any childhood memories related to the autumn season?

For reasons I didn’t understand, I used to collect the horse chestnuts that fell from a tree on Spruce Street, halfway between Cypress Street and Spring Forest Avenue in Binghamton, NY. I liked how smooth and pretty they were. But then, come spring, I’d just throw them out, then collect more the following season. I must have done this for about a half dozen years.

5.  What kind of outdoor activities do you enjoy during the autumn months?

Nothing in particular.

6. Do you look forward to ‘sweata weatha’? What is your favorite go-to outfit for Fall?

I used to wear sweaters. I’m more of a hoodie guy now; one is from UNC Charlotte, near where one of my sisters lives.

7. Are you a fan of pumpkin or apple-flavored treats or beverages?

Apple pie, or the like. I can take or leave pumpkin, which I understand is really squash.

8. Which fall scents do you find most appealing?

Wood-burning stoves.

9. Do you like to visit apple orchards or pumpkin patches or corn mazes?

I have picked apples, but it’s been decades. I don’t do mazes; they make me anxious.

10. Have you ever participated in or attended a fall festival or harvest fair?

There was a Madison Street fair a block from here last weekend; I was there for about five minutes. In previous years, I’ve spent a couple of hours.

11. What’s your favorite thing about autumn?

The changing colors of the leaves.

Beverage

12. Are you more of a cider or hot chocolate person when it comes to fall beverages?

When I was living in my college town of New Paltz, NY, c. 1975, I lived in a house that was a coffee house on Saturday nights during the school year. One of the obligations of the housemates was to make mulled cider. My two housemates, both named Mike, hated each other’s guts, making the process unnecessarily onerous and soured me on cider.

13. What’s your ideal way to spend a crisp autumn evening?

Sitting on the front porch and people-watching.

14. Do you like to dress up for Halloween? What’s your favorite costume, or what costume do you plan for this year? Do you like to make your own costume?

In 1978, I had a girlfriend who suggested an outfit. She and her best friend took me dress shopping at a secondhand store in Schenectady, NY. I shaved, which I rarely did, and put on a cheap wig. Then we went to a party, and I spoke in a falsetto. I was surprised that even people who knew me did not recognize me until my five o’clock shadow started coming in.

Pigskin

15. Are you a football fan? What’s your favorite team?

I don’t know that much about soccer.

If we’re talking about American football, I start paying attention on Thanksgiving Day. I’ve learned that sometimes your team will suck, so you need alternate rooting interests.

In order: New York Giants – when I first learned about the game, I’d watch them on our CBS affiliate, WNBF, Channel 12 in Binghamton. I remember players from the 1960s: Y.A. Tittle, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Dick Lynch, Andy Robustelli, et al. My father and I saw a preseason game at Cornell University in Ithaca three years in a row. Later, the NYG trained at the uptown campus of the University at Albany.

Buffalo Bills – the only team that actually plays their home games in New York State

New York Jets – the first regular-season NFL game I ever saw was at Shea Stadium when they played the Houston Oilers, probably on October 20, 1969, when they won 26-17

Pittsburgh Steelers – I loved the 1970s Steelers, two of whom shared my birthday, Lynn Swann and the late Franco Harris.

Green Bay Packers – a small market team with Green in the title

Philadelphia Eagles – geography plus green uniforms plus NFC East

Conversely, I root against Dallas “Who named THEM America’s team?” Cowboys and the New England Patriots. Also, in the college ranks, against the Alabama Crimson Tide, on general principle.