I love them all, although I don't like summer as much as I like fall and spring. I start off loving winter, but I get tired of the gray days after a while and I start itching for spring. Since I don't ski or snowboard, winter also usually means a long period of inactivity for me, before I can get back into the garden in March.

I think autumn is my favorite, though. The gardening is just as intense as it is in spring (or it would be, if I had any spare daylight hours), and it's always such a welcome relief after a long, hot, Sacramento summer.

What's your favorite season?

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Answers

it's a big toss up between fall in minnesota - gorgeous colors, clearer skies than i've seen anywhere else in my life, fabulous indian summer about the third week in october - or spring in minnesota, mostly because that means i get to start wearing tank tops again, and after the winter, it's a huge relief. plus spring here means all kinds of fun stuff ON campus, so it's not really the season, per se, but you know what i mean ...

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I enjoy all the seasons ( I live in CT) especially summer. I love going on my boat, going to the beach just to relax on the weekends. Fall is beautiful around here. The only months I hate are January & February, it's endless and depressing.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Fall and winter in the Netherlands are VERY depressing. Compared to us, even the British have nothing to complain about ;-) We get storms, we get continuous drizzle and the occasional thunderstorm, and since the lot of us are living below sea level (scary, huh?) we get lots of flooding as well.

However, you haven't lived until you've seen the Amsterdam canals on a beautiful spring or summer morning.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I love summer the most. Long days, warm weather. We lived in Silicon Valley this summer and I was utterly delighted to have hot days and warm nights. Oh, I'm happy just thinking about it. Spring is next best because of all the flowers and birds and of course, it's almost summer.

I hate winter, period. Oh, all right, I do love a good California rain storm, and I like those crystal clear days on the coast, mid winter. But basically, I hate it.

Fall is bittersweet. It's kind of pretty with clear weather, but the light isn't right. And, of course, soon it will be winter. I have a really hard time not obsessing about that.

Apparently there's a Indian / pizza restaurant in San Francisco that people think is good. I have never had a reason to try it, though.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Like you, I think fall is especially sweet in Sacramento. The summers are so sucky (although this one was swell) the fall is a relief. It's cooler, the light is gentler, and the evenings are nice. Then we get foggy winter, with the occasional crystal clear day, and it makes you crave the balmy spring days. I've always lived in Northern California so haven't experienced the big seasonal changes. I like it here.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I looove Fall. If I had a Genie, it would be fall forever. (I hate spring, though...too cheery and bright. It's like a Mary Kay meeting.)?

Especially here in Tennessee, with the beautiful rolling hills swathed in multicolored leaves.--Al

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

winter, winter, winter. i love cold weather more than anything. i've always fantasized about moving to juneau someday. and no, i don't ski or snowboard...i just hate warm weather. anything above 68 degrees makes me sweaty and uncomfortable and miserable. cold weather makes me feel alive. and there's nothing better than coming inside, snuggling under a blanket, and drinking hot cocoa while watching TV.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Spring. Oh, I *love* Spring. It's like a present for making it through the winter. When I lived in Maine, everything would be drab and brown (if not covered in snow), and then one day you'd wake up and everything would be a bright, almost fluorescent green. Every Spring, it would amaze me how bright the greens were. Here in Alabama, it's not such a big difference, but I still love Spring.

Fall is a close second, though.

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I like spring because the women start wearing less clothing and it makes me randy, baby!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

In Sacramento, there is usually about a week in spring and a week in fall when it is warm enough not to need a jacket or anything, slightly overcast so the sun isn't beating down on you, and the wind is gentle and refreshing. Perfect.

Of course, most of the rest of the time you are either baking or can't see for all the fog. Sacramento summers are awful (though this one was nice), and the fog can be horrible (driving on the freeway at 5 mph because you can't see 10 feet in front of you is not my idea of a good time). But at least it doesn't snow.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

In Houston, we don't have seasons. Just hot and too hot. I've seen many Christmas/New Years in shorts and tee-shirt. Snow? What's that?

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Autumn, hands down, with spring running a close second. I love the feeling of the air in the fall and often good things seem to happen to me in the fall. I have a lot of happy fall memories. I also like winter, if only because winter has Christmas and I LOVE Christmas. Love the smells, love the get-togethers, love buying presents, love being with family, love the hot cocoa and sledding parties and and .. yeah:)

I hate summer though. Hate hate hate it. Hot, humid, sticky and gross. I miss the days when summer was a welcome friend, when I lived in Europe and summer was like mid-spring here.

But Autumn and all its mysteries and keen smells and clear skies and bright fresh air is my favorite.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

The temperature isn't much colder here in the winter than in the summer, and it can be hot or cold or anywhere in between at any time of year, but mostly it's "mild" and I like it that way. So there are no seasons really. It rains more in the winter, but some rain is good, and I don't want to live in a desert. It's warmer here in the winter and cooler in the summer than the outlying areas are, and I like that. I think we have the perfect climate. No complaints. I even like fog. it comes and goes, and we wouldn't have the redwoods without it.

But now Stijn has got me remembering Holland in the springtime, and I want to go back there, very much. It's the only other place I felt "at home."

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I can't believe Robyn says she's from Maine and chose spring as her favorite season. (No, I'm not talking behind her back. I just e- mailed her to register my disbelief). Maine springs are very wet, from all the melting snow - mud season - and you just can't walk anywhere. I remember building dams across the (paved) road in front of my house. Knee-deep pools would form in minutes from the snow melt.

I would have to say summer is best here in New England. When I was a kid I would sit in a canoe on the lake a lot on summer evenings. If there is a heaven, it smells like the pines do on the lake when the sun sets at 9:30 in the evening, just as the land breeze picks up.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

My, didn't it give me a start to see my name in the Bboard email. In defense of my answer, Tom fails to take in account the fact that I grew up near the coast of Maine, and therefore we didn't get nearly as much snow as he, being an inlander, did. I did spend two years in Northernmost Maine, Aroostook County, and we got plenty of snow there, but I was at the age when mud and melting snow was great fun.

Personally, *I* can't believe Tom prefers summer in Maine. Sure, early summer is great, but toward the end of June comes the onslaught of mosquitos. Mosquitos are, unofficially, the Maine State Bird, you know.

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

My favorite is still summer. Spring and fall are both beautiful, but give me a nice warm summers day at the lake! Winter is beautiful also, but when you live in Michigan it can get awfully cold. Lots of being snowed in and unable to get to work times. I remember in 7th grade we had a whole month off due to weather. And in 10th having to call my SO (same one as now. 'Magine that.) to meet my dad where the plows stopped (dad was on snowmobile) to bring us food. I grew up in a touristy area, and in the winter ther were only two other families out by us. It was almost like an enchanted world, with noone to disturb the snow. The pine trees looked frosted, the snow just engulfed the power lines, and the only tracks you saw were made by animals. We have a picture of my brother and I standing in front of one of the sliding glass doors. Snow covers all but the top 6 inches.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

If I can be excused for mentioning an off-list subject, I just have to say that saag is the ambrosia of the universe, the ultimate food of the gods. It comes in a couple different versions; my favorite is the type with the cheese cubes, saag paneer (I've also seen it called palak paneer). I could live on a steady diet of saag paneer, chapati, rice, and mango lassi and never be bored. To anyone who read Beth's entry and said, "Ugh, pureed spinach, better than sex? What is she thinking?"--hie thee to a good Indian restaurant, forthwith. Your sex life will never be the same again.

My favorite season is autumn, at least in the Midwest where I grew up and am living again now. At the risk of alienating all you Californians who love your version of autumn, I have to admit that when I lived out there, I could hardly bear it when autumn came because it was nothing like my best-beloved time of year. (To be fair, I've heard New Englanders complain about fall in the Midwest along the same lines: "You call these leaves colorful? Bah!") In and of itself, fall's a pretty good time in California, especially inland where it's a welcome relief from a long, hot, dry summer, but I couldn't help yearning for what I knew as fall. In California, I'd have to say that my favorite time of year was late winter/early spring. And I can't stand heat or humidity, so I really envy those of you who have lived or are living in Europe, with those mild summers.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

I'd have to nominate spring. Especially late spring, just verging on summer, when everything is warm and fresh and new, and the end of summer is just a vague possibility somewhere down the road and not to be taken seriously.

Of course, the depth of winter is also stunningly beautiful in the far north - from indoors, looking out through plate glass from the comfort of a warm house. The first two weeks in February were always the best part of the season, with everything white and sparkling and crisp and clean. I never thought I would miss snow when I moved to the deep south, but I do.

Until I visit for the holidays and have to shovel the car out.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

i'll add that fall used to be a close second to winter when i was growing up in the northwest. wet, cold, and windy: yay! now that i'm living in michigan, i don't like fall nearly as much. it's so humid and warm...barely an improvement over the summer.

bleah. i have to get out of this place.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Autumn, autumn, autumn. No doubt about it.

Here in southern Ontario, though, I'm basically talking about the autumn that begins in mid-September and lasts till the beginning of November. Barely a month and a half, during which the leaves turn while the air has a clean, dark, astringent smell, the temperatures are pleasant, Indian Summer gives us one last taste of summer, and the sun gets lower in the sky, casting long, dramatic shadows all day long. After that, the trees are naked, the air cold, the sky overcast, the rain relentless, and the threat of snow flurries always looming.

I'd also say I like the end of Spring/beginning of Summer quite a bit, if only for the excitement of planting and the satisfaction of watching seeds sprout and seedlings start to thrive, before bugs, squirrels, raccoons and whatever else start to become annoyances. Radishes, ladybugs, the first lettuce and tulips. Nice. Then it's all downhill -- heat and humidity and I can't wait for autumn.

Never happy.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Living here in Indiana, and in Illinois, I have always preferred spring to any other season. I love the fresh, new smell of spring. I like the anticipation......looking ahead......a chance to start anew. II like the birds singing and bustling, the redbuds, flowering crabapples, and fruit trees all in bloom, the warm soil just right for planting....all of it... However, our springs do not seem to be as long and warm as they used to be. Global warming? Instead, summer is encroaching on fall, and fall into winter. That I don't like. I want my nice, long spring season back.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

My first thought is fall, but I also love it in the spring, when everything is so colorfull.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999