As someone who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), I’m extremely sensitive to the shortening days and increased darkness of fall.    Believe it or not, my disorder actually begins to kick in during high summer–around early August–when the days are growing noticeably shorter, even though the heat and humidity is at its peak.  So it’s really the lessening light, and not cooler weather, that sends me into the yearly doldrums and makes me feel depressed.  I’ve sometimes wondered if SAD might be some kind of evolutionary throwback to a time when we still hibernated.  I know every year I want to go into hibernation and sleep away the fall and winter and  wake up again in early spring.

Another weird thing about my SAD is that it begins to dissipate sometime in late January or early February, when the days are beginning to grow noticeably longer.   Even though February days are still shorter than September days, it’s the increase of light every day that begins to improve  my mood, not the actual amount of light.

But I couldn’t feel too depressed about fall beginning in just a couple days when I saw this little treat in the front of my house.    I don’t know where this vine with these cute little red flowers came from–it looks like a type of morning glory (Bluebird of Bitterness might know what these are).   Maybe my daughter planted some seeds here, or maybe they’re just growing there all on their own.   However they got here, they made me smile this morning.

Also, my rose bush and the blue morning glories I planted back in April are turning my small garden into a riot of color (and I even spied a few bumblebees in the trumpet shaped flowers), so it seems like summer isn’t quite ready to go anywhere yet!

ETA:  I found out the small red-orange morning glories in front of the house are actually a very rare variety called “Orange Noah.”  They bloom in late summer and fall, when most other glories are ready to quit for the year.  But where they came from is still a mystery!