Did you feel that?

Hi neighbors. If you've lost your footing a time or two today, it could be because the earth is tilting. Between five and six a.m. we enter autumn (at least those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.) Today (and today only race fans!) the hours of daylight and the hours of darkness are supposed to be the same. Guess the axis didn't take into consideration Daylight Savings Time before it slumped over.

The bad news is that days will get shorter a few minutes at a time and nights will get longer. Twilight should be happy. The way I figure it, dusk will get double time.

Anyway, have a happy fall into autumn.

Although I didn't lose my footing today, I must have turned around a few times and missed summer slipping away. It still 'feels' like summer. Judging from last winter's heating bills, summer can stick around as long as it wants.

Fall means football though. Children of all ages put away the catcher's mitts, bats and caps and strap on shoulder pads, helmets and warpaint.

It's again time to re-learn the habit of wearing layered clothing and always keeping an extra jacket in the car.

Another autumn tradition is getting back "into" cooking. It's just too hot in the summer -- come on! Even though we don't have to fire up the old wood cooking stove, just the heat from boiling water seems to ad 10 degrees to the room temperature.

No need to rush into a five course meal though. Pace yourself, you have all winter to get through too you know.

Chili is good. It does take some time to chop onions, tomatoes, green peppers and throw them in a pot. You also have to pre-cook the beans and meat you chose to include. Of course, a person can just go buy a few cans of ready made chili, but that's not the same thing! I've never been able to make a small pot of chili, or potato soup or simple beans. I don't think it can be done. Chili grows like rising yeast bread.

It doesn't matter what size pan you start it in, you always have to keep pouring it into bigger and bigger pots. Time to invite the neighbors over. Make some cornbread and have a feast. If no one has watermelons left, make some ice cream.

Autumn is a good season in my opinion. Everything smells like dirt -- not dirty -- just good rich earth. Like the planet is saying "don't forget where those pumpkins came from; and that corn!" Bambi is almost all grown up and just about ready to bound home for dinner. Turkeys are talking. Geese are counting heads and deciding there's someplace else they'd rather be right about now.

It's also time for the new season of my favorite sport -- television watching! I haven't seen many shows that look worth watching to be honest.

The reality show (Survivor rip-off featuring kids) Kid Nation was really interesting the first fifteen minutes.

I can't imagine an entire season of disputes on how to cook macaroni -- but what do I know? I never watched Survivor either.

Another season another vampire show. I write horror fiction and even I am bored with vampires. I guess enough people are interested, at least so the producers hope, to risk it.

With all the need for a super-strong hero; why did they pick now to bring out an animated movie about the death of Superman? My son just laughs at my degree of distress over Superman dying (again! first time in the graphic novel this movie is based on) but it just seems bad timing to say the least.

I mean, Superman stands for truth, justice and THE AMERICAN WAY! (Until they edited that line out of the last Superman movie.) Killing off Superman is just a subversive attack on Americana as far as I'm concerned. I may have to get a sign and protest the movie. Come on fellow Boomers! We don't need movies that show the American way succumbing to attacks by some big monster who's very essence is our weakness.

If we let them kill off Superman today -- who will be next? Until the next time friends remember, even the planet tilts a couple of times a year. It might be a dizzy ride, but it all levels out eventually.