What we think it will be:

Crisp days, cool nights, leaves turning beautiful colors

Fires in the fireplace

Long, cozy nights, reading by the fire

Knitting warm snuggly things

Drinking hot chocolate

What is really is:
damp, cold days that make my bones ache

leaves falling off the trees and rotting in piles, or needing to be raked – which in turn, makes my bones ache

fires that smoke and fill the house with soot, wood that has to be hauled inside, ashes that have to be hauled out, wood smoke making it hard to breathe, and carrying all that stuff – makes my bones ache

Knitting a couple of pairs of mittens before the cracks in my fingers start to bleed and make it hurt to knit

Hot chocolate gives me a migraine

And the best part – it’s just a precursor to Winter.  Winter makes my bones ache, my body ache, and my head ache.