Ah yes, I'm also in SoCal. I grew up in the midwest, and the lack of real seasonal changes - particularly fall - bums me out a little every year. I seem to recall last year was particularly warm. Although... it was nice to wander around on Halloween night and not have to wear a big coat over my costume. So it isn't all bad I suppose.
I am originally from the northeast and didn't move to SoCal until 10 years ago. Yes, I still get fairly miserable wishing for crunchy leaves and autumn smells (though we do have a few trees on our block that change to brilliant colors - liquidambar mostly; then maples, but they just get a dirty yellow). But there are a few things that I selectively manage not to remember each year, and which I then MAKE myself remember. Such as:
* all the years we got "rained out" of Halloween. I'd go out anyway, with an umbrella. The mood of dozens of kids in the street was TOTALLY ruined since nobody else was out. I'd waited 364 days for Halloween and it was a bust.
* having to wear a heavy jacket over my costume since it was 30F at night, and nobody could see all the work I'd put into it.
* beautiful, gorgeous, brilliant, amazing peak fall colors...that lasted 10 days and then were done. Totally done. Again: waited 11.5 months for that. Over in a whisper.
* crisp mornings being fun...for a few weeks...then heralding in five long months of bitter, windy cold and slippery, dangerous, scary road conditions.
* the way all my friends' kids from my old neighborhood got SNOWED OUT of H'ween two years ago.
* the way we'd plan all year for fun H'ween things to do on the weekends outdoors...then get rained out...and never get a second chance.
I'm not knocking "real fall" but then again if you REALLY look back on it I'll bet you'll see that your memories of it are a lot rosier than the reality. Now OTOH I do seek out "autumn"-like stuff out here. Absolutely. I love to drive to the mountains to see color and feel crispness. I look for "farm"-y things (including what is now a tradition for us, the Sleepy Hollow dinner, presentation and games at Riley's Farm). I make all sorts of autumn-flavored goodies, especially anything that contains apple, pumpkin and/or raisins. I burn candles with the lovely scents of fall. I DO miss "real" fall, even the very small amount of it that actually happened. BUT there are ways to remind yourself that nobody gets that "perfect fall" any more than anybody actually gets that "perfect Christmas" you see on every TV channel, movie and store display.
So just ENJOY OUR OWN FALL! We DO HAVE ONE! Come on over to my house. Damn girl, I will take you the rounds. We'll start out with a fab pumpkin spice latte at the Starbucks right down the road from me, then I'll take you up the Glendora Mountain Road, we'll get higher in elevation and feel the crisp breeze and will look down at the amazing panorama below. We'll go back down and I'll drive you along the strips of Rte. 66 that have amazing lines of blazing-red liquidambar, then up to LaVerne and Claremont which are all trees, trees, trees. We'll wear our short sleeves and enjoy, unfettered. Then to Trader Joe's for a cider run, double back to Donut Man for an autumn peach fresh-made donut run and take them home to eat during a haunted movie marathon!!! Let me know the date!!! I'll fit ya in!!
