You know the story of Persephone? In Greece, way back when people chatted with gods and the gods talked back and nobody thought you were crazy for saying so, this lovely maiden named Persephone was out picking flowers. Apparently back then, spending a day in a meadow flower-picking was considered a productive use of one's time -- and doubly so if your mother was the goddess of agriculture and fertility.
So here is this girl, tra-la-la-ing it through the glades of Greece, and suddenly the earth splits open, and up comes Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and He grabs her and sweeps her away to His dark underground kingdom.
Now, despite the fact that this sort of thing happened all the time back then, Persephone's mother was pissed. I think the conversation went something like this:
<ringring>
Hades: HELLO?
Demeter: ASHKENGHGHNAAAAASFRAAGGAAAHARRRGGGAAAA!!!
Hades: EXCUSE ME?
Demeter: FLAAAHFHNNAAANGFNKLJOOPLKHAAAAAAA!!!
Hades: YOU REALLY MUST CALM DOWN.
Demeter: (sputter) CALM DOWN?? AAAFHHJKJSAAAPERSEPHONEGJKLJLSAAA!!
Hades: SHE IS MINE. I ABDUCTED HER FROM THAT GLADE, FAIR AND SQUARE.
Demeter: LKJGOHGHAAAA FINE THEN I WILL SMITE THE EARTH WITH SNOW, AND WIND, AND COLD SNAPS, AND FROSTBITE, AND HYPOTHERMIA, AND EL NINO.
Hades: (shrug) WHATEVER, I LIVE UNDERGROUND.
And so Winter came into existence. Demeter was so sad and angry that Her daughter was gone, She turned off the sun and created a whole new industry, which is why Demeter is also known as the Goddess of Parkas and Moonboots. Luckily, they managed to broker a custody-sharing deal: Persephone would have been free to pick flowers all year, and the whole planet would have been the Caribbean, if she had refrained from eating these six little pomegranate seeds; Hades worked in a clause into the agreement that she had to live underground for one month for each seed -- Winter -- and she got to skip around and picnic for the other six months -- Summer. Still, one has to admire Persephone's forbearance. If Hades had abducted me and then starved me in a cave somewhere and then someone gave me a pomegranate, I think it is safe to say we would have something like 900 months of Winter in a row.
So far as I can make out, this means that Fall is the time when Demeter is getting sadder and sadder that her daughter is off mucking about with this Underworld fellow. Trees wither, winds get chilly, people drive through New England looking at the colors.
Today, however; today is so beautiful and sunshiny and crisp and wonderful -- today I think is the day when Demeter woke up and realized She was alone in the house: She walked around naked for a while; She turned up that Euterpe CD she just got that Persephone always makes fun of; She realized She could use the phone whenever She wanted without picking up a receiver and hearing someone whine "But Mo-o-o-om, I'm on the pho-o-o-one!" She drank a mimosa, possibly three, called Ares to see what He was up to later, and realized that having your kid out of the house for a while probably is not the worst thing that could happen.