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Fall into activities for autumn enjoyment
Fall into activities for autumn enjoyment

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By Heather Warlick

Published: September 11, 2008

Autumn starts Sept. 22, when the sun is positioned directly over Earth's equator.

Also known as the fall equinox, it's a perfect time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest.

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East Asian countries hold a Moon Festival at this time. Among the ancient Mayans, the fall equinox was considered sacred. The celestial event causes shadows to play on Mayan pyramids and create the illusion of snakes. The sight draws curiosity seekers today.

The United Kingdom celebrates a harvest festival on the Sunday of the full moon closest to the equinox. For religions and cultures around the world, the fall equinox is a sacred and mystical time for celebrations and observances.

Almost as mystical as shadow snakes and moon festivals is Mother Nature's fall show. Green tree leaves turn vibrant shades of red, orange, purple and yellow, painting landscapes worthy of Monet's finest work. It is a time when the blistering heat of summer subsides to cooler, crisp temperatures and people gear up for upcoming holidays, back-to-school and football season.

Fall is truly a wonderful time of year.

1. Fluff up fall
Give your decorative pillows an inexpensive and reversible face-lift with some fabulous new fabrics from your local fabric store. Choose colors and textures that make fall come alive in your home. The beauty of re-covering pillows you already own is that you can uncover them when the season is over or change their covers for next season.

Bonding tape is a great way to create "no-sew” projects such as pillow covers. Use your imagination. Just by following the bonding tape package directions, you can bond together fabrics almost magically for strong, washable creations.

Here are three easy "no-sew” ways from DIY Network to re-cover a pillow with new fabric. You can buy new fabric or, better yet, use things you already have, such as scarves, tablecloths, unused curtains and cloth napkins. That way, the edges of your materials are finished already.

Cover a square pillow form with an upscale designer linen pillowcase in a leopard-skin pattern. Stuff the pillow form all the way down to the bottom of the case, then twist the opening shut. Tie it shut with some natural-looking raffia and some exotic-looking bead trim.

Cover a bolster pillow with a piece of fabric large enough to overlap at the center, widthwise, and still leave 4 to 7 inches or so of extra fabric at each side. Use pinking shears along all the edges so they won't fray. Place the bolster in the center of the wrong side of the fabric. Fold down a hem on the two long sides of the material, and then bring them up to overlap on the top of the bolster, as if you're wrapping a rectangular present. Holding the fabric wrapper shut, bunch one end in your hand, candy-wrapper style, and use a rubber band to fasten it closed. Repeat on the other side. Tie an oversize bow of French wire ribbon to hide the rubber bands on both sides. If you like, add some trim to the pinked edges. Or fold the edges in and bunch them together to form a fabric rosette. Use fabric glue to secure it.

Insert a smaller square pillow form between two napkins that are each 2 inches longer and wider than the pillow. Make little pig's tails on all four corners. Fasten them with rubber bands, and cover them with bits of ribbon.

2. Back to school! Go green
With the kiddos settled into a back-to-school routine, fall is a time for many parents to breathe a sigh of relief. This year, why not make your life and your children’s school routines a little more green?

October is Walk to School month.

School buses provide transporation to 24 million children in the U.S.

But buses often are old, and some buses pollute as much as six times more than new ones available today, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

When buses sit idling outside a school, they waste fuel and pollute the air. Children are especially sensitive to diesel exhaust, which causes respiratory problems and worsens allergies and asthma. Ask your child's school to adopt a "no idle” policy.

Also, encourage your school district to investigate the EPA's Clean School Bus USA initiative, found online at www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus.

3. Fall Photos
Oklahoma is a beautiful state, especially in autumn when leaves turn magnificent shades of red, orange and yellow. Capturing these breathtaking scenes can be a snap if you know how to use your digital camera properly.

Here are some tips for great fall photography from Epperson Photo-Video.

•Take advantage of the fall foliage colors. Position yourself so the sun is behind you to make the most of colors.

•If you have a camera with interchangeable lenses, use a circular polarizing filter that goes over the lens to cut glare and increase contrast.

•Relocate yourself. Take the same shot from several positions to get the best shot. Try finding a position up high, one down low and from different angles.

•Capture the action. Avoid posed pictures of your friends and family, opting instead for action shots that tell a story.

4. Fall for Gardening
Fall gardens all over Oklahoma are bursting with beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, winter squash, eggplant, peppers and sweet corn. While many fall vegetables should be planted in late summer, it’s not too late to plant spinach, Swiss chard, turnips, radishes, mustard, garlic, and rutabaga. And, some summer vegetables such as tomato, okra, pepper, sweet potato and New Zealand spinach will also continue to flourish.

These tips are from the Oklahoma County Extension Center. Seeds left over from planting the spring garden may be used in planting the fall garden if seeds have been stored in a cool, dry location or in a refrigerator or freezer.

Seeds that are stored in the freezer properly should remain viable for many years. Immediately following planting, return surplus seed to the freezer.

To get early established growth, supplemental irrigation is desirable. Most vegetable crops will benefit from supplemental irrigation. Information on drip irrigation is available from garden centers and county extension centers. This technique allows an efficient method of irrigation.

To conserve water, water only the furrows or rows and wait for rainfall for general watering.

Soak seeds overnight for planting (except beans and peas). This will hasten germination and seedling emergence.

Cover seeded rows to reduce drying.

5 . Halloween!
You can trick your treats this fall and create some ghoulish masterpieces with tips from Country Home Style Editor, Matthew Mead and his new book, “Halloween Tricks and Treats.” In it, he shares ways to make scary-but-tasty and creative Halloween treats and décor.

Here are some crafty Halloween decorations from Matthew Mead's "Halloween Tricks and Treats” (Time Inc. Home Entertainment, $19.95):

•Witch's Coat Rack. Get prepped to fly off on an adventure. Paint a hat rack black and mount it on your wall. Add some seriously magic props such as an ornate key to the dungeon, wire star and quaint treat bucket, along with the essential wardrobe: a striped sash, black cloak (these are easy to pick up where costumes are sold). Rest a getaway broom across the hooks and top it off with a bird ornament and a "save the date” notice made on your computer.

•Tapered Terrors. Skinny carrots with quirky shapes and intense black-eyed pea eyes only look like creepy orange candles, and any visitor will be sure to give them a second glance.

Wash and peel the carrots first if you think your guests will want to nibble. With a paring knife, cut two little notches where you want the eyes to be and firmly press the peas into them.

•Trick or Treat Tower. A wire basket tree makes a fun decorative accent that dispenses favors, too. Fill small gift boxes with sweets or other treats; wrap them in black or orange paper, adding contrasting paper bands cut with scalloped-blade scissors. Tie each with rickrack, ribbon or cord, adding a small trinket if you wish. Fill small crepe paper favor baskets with candies and hang them from the basket edges.

One mail-order source for favor baskets is online at blumchen.com.

For wire basket trees such as the one used here, you may go online to handcrafttexas.com (be sure to mention "Halloween Tricks and Treats” to avoid the normal $50 minimum purchase).

6 . Turkey Day!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. The weather is crisp and autumn leaves are falling. Add a cozy fireplace, delicious roasted turkey, mouthwatering dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes and a football game on television and you’ve got the perfect Thanksgiving Day. Read the f ood section of The Oklahoman every Wednesday in November and watch videos on Newsok.tv. They will show you how to fix a perfect Thanksgiving dinner with different elements each week : roast turkey, stock and broth, gravy and mashed potatoes.

7. MUMS the word
Fall is the season for some of the hardiest blooms I know : chrysanthemums or mums. They come in practically every color of the rainbow so you don’t have to feel stuck with the typical fall color scheme of yellow, burnt orange and burgundy. You can keep your garden looking summery throughout autumn with bright pink, purple and white mums. Chrysanthemums come in beautiful varieties such as daisies, anemones, buttons and spiders in addition to the traditional decorative mums — you can pair them up with your fall vegetables and create a spectacular look in your garden or container. And if you plant them early enough to take root, they will come back next year twice the size they are this year. Mums are the signature bloom of fall and something I look forward to each year.

8 . The Football Tailgate Party
Oh the enjoyment when a few of the same battle cry get together to support their team. Whether your colors are crimson and cream or orange and black, fall is football season and that means tailgate parties. Tailgating is an all-American pastime that Oklahomans have down to an art.

Wear your team colors. You don't have to paint your face and cover your car with team flags to show your support. As long as you wear your team's colors, you'll be doing your part. Here are some tips are from www.askmen.com.

•Transform the parking lot. You'll receive extra tailgating points if you deck out your plot of the parking lot with outdoor furniture, grills and a big color television.

•Work the menu. Traditional tailgate foods are grill-based. So, the night before, prep your burgers or chicken wings and mix up a homemade barbecue sauce. You can buy ribs and cook them in advance, keeping them on ice before the game and throw them on the grill to heat them.

•Don't forget the finger foods. A tailgate party is just not right without snacks such as nachos, buffalo wings, chips, guacamole, salsa and, of course, the ultimate finger food: beer.

•Don't forget the details. You'll need a bevy of accessories such as a big cooler, plastic dishware and utensils, napkins, cups, bags for leftovers, serving bowls and lots of sealable plastic containers for items such as potato salad.

You'll need your television and a power source for it. You could consider buying a small generator if you have a lot of electronics to run.

9 . Throw a driveway party!
Invite all the neighbors on your street for a driveway cook out. It’s much more open and social to have your gathering in front of the house than in your backyard — it encourages hesitant neighbors to stop by and shows unity. Pull your grill out to the driveway, ask each family to bring a dish and set up as many outdoor chairs as you can gather. Organize a touch football game for the kids and enjoy the beautiful season before it gets too cold to gather outdoors.

10. Make your own calendar.
Though the holidays may seem far off, they are really just around the corner. One great gift idea is a personalized photo calendar. You can choose between 12 and 18 month calendars that feature one photo per month or a collage. They are easy to create at Web sites like Shutterfly.com or Walmart.com and most retailers will give you a discount for ordering multiple copies of your calendar. Gather your photos now to beat the printing rush.