It’s Goodbye Autumn and Hello Fall!

Posted on November 22, 2025 by mitchteemley

Why does this season have two names?

Dictionaries devote multiple paragraphs to the answer.

I can do it in two pictures:

AUTUMN

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FALL

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Any questions?

Good. Now get back to raking!

How do you get rid of leaves without raking? For years I engaged in a fall ritual called blowing and mowing. I simply used my trusty electric blower to whisk all of the leaves out of our flower beds and driveway into the yard. (The wind, ever-enthusiastic but rather missing the point, would assist by blowing all of the neighbor’s leaves into our yard as well.)

And then, I’d grab my not-so-trusty lawnmower and mulch those leaves into tiny bits, altruistically transforming them into nourishment for those hungry baby grass blades next spring.

But then, one fateful year, my mower gave up the ghost (or, well, methane). So now I’m forced to return to raking fall leaves. Just like our Native American predecessors did when their trusty buffaloes stopped working.

We had a lovely autumn. But since my lawnmower has gone to the Happy Mowing Ground, once again I ask: How do you get rid of leaves without raking? Well…the first snow could always arrive early and, as The Good Book of Ways to Avoid Yardwork sayeth,

“Snow hideth a multitude of sins (leaves).”

ζ

About mitchteemley

Writer, Filmmaker, Humorist, Thinker-about-stuffer
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45 Responses to It’s Goodbye Autumn and Hello Fall!

  1. joynealkidney says:
    November 22, 2025 at 11:41 am

    Works for me, er, for my Favorite Guy!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    November 22, 2025 at 11:43 am

    Purchase a new lawnmower or better yet, tell you daughters you want (NEED) one for Christmas! Or your birthday if it is sooner.

    Reply
  3. Karima Hoisan says:
    November 22, 2025 at 11:51 am

    Wonderful 😆 Thanks for explaining that:)

    Reply
  4. Ab says:
    November 22, 2025 at 12:13 pm

    Love the fall image! 🤣😂

    Reply
  5. Just Bob F says:
    November 22, 2025 at 12:25 pm

    Um, so how does your grass get mowed? Or are you going for a prairie look?

    Reply
  6. Annabelle Franklin says:
    November 22, 2025 at 12:29 pm

    It’s only called Autumn here in the UK. As for the leaves, I just leave them to mulch down on their own. It seems to work, as the grass grows like crazy in the Spring.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    November 22, 2025 at 12:40 pm

    I’m sitting in the porch swing watching the oak leaves rain to the ground. I called them ballerinas and they’re covering my yard now. Might not rake this year. Enjoy your day!

    Reply
  8. L.G. says:
    November 22, 2025 at 12:42 pm

    Great pics

    Reply
  9. ibarynt says:
    November 22, 2025 at 1:36 pm

    There’s no better explanation.

    Reply
  10. K Mark Schofer says:
    November 22, 2025 at 1:40 pm

    When I’m out running, I always give the people with leaf blowers a hard time indicating that they missed one.

    The distinction between Autumn and Fall is kind of an exercise in creativity.

    I actually I’ve been writing about this in recently because in the Pacific Northwest we have autumn and we have wildfire season. They’re both the same yet different.

    Which reminds me I have to put a battery in my lawnmower and do the same

    Reply
  11. ktz2 says:
    November 22, 2025 at 1:51 pm

    From age 9 on it was my job to keep the leaves raked from 2 giant sycamore trees. I came to really dislike sycamore trees haha. . Also my job to mow the front and back lawns, with a push mower that was already old then, from the ’40s I think.
    I’d get a good momentum going then take a sudden hard punch to my solar plexus from the handle, when the blades hit a rock or stick. and stopped short. My little 50c a week allowance felt hard-earned, for a kid, But later I appreciated that my dad had given me responsibilities that helped me learn about work and money.

    Reply
  12. peggywritesblog says:
    November 22, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    No questions, I think that the pictures speak for themselves! Appreciate you clearing it up, Mitch! 😊

    Reply
  13. joyroses13 says:
    November 22, 2025 at 4:29 pm

    LOL! Good plan!

    Reply
  14. trE says:
    November 22, 2025 at 6:18 pm

    “as The Good Book of Ways to Avoid Yardwork sayeth,
    “Snow hideth a multitude of sins (leaves).”’

    🤣😂😆 I used to detest helping my mom rake and bag the leaves back in the day. I am SO HAPPY I do not have to deal with that right now. LOL!

    Reply
  15. Nancy Homlitas says:
    November 22, 2025 at 8:05 pm

    Autumn/Fall-great visual explanation! 🙂

    Reply
  16. M. says:
    November 22, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    ❤️

    Reply
  17. sandysbookaday says:
    November 22, 2025 at 8:57 pm

    Makes perfect sense to me!

    Reply
  18. gracelead says:
    November 22, 2025 at 10:17 pm

    Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Now I understand the split personality of Autumn and Fall. As always, your humor delights.

    Reply
  19. Rakesh K. Singh says:
    November 23, 2025 at 2:24 am

    Honestly, I vote for the ‘let snow handle it’ method. It is nature’s original delete button.

    Reply
  20. Lokesh says:
    November 23, 2025 at 4:22 am

    Thanks for sharing, Mitch.

    I like the distractions caused by your posts. They are generally good.

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says:
    November 23, 2025 at 9:25 am

    You left out the part where you make a giant pile of the leaves and then run and jump into them. Yeah… me neither. Good stuff, Mitch. As usual.

    Reply
  22. gregoryjoel says:
    November 23, 2025 at 10:39 am

    I’m a firm believer in snow covering “a multitude of leaves” but unfortunately, I live in Texas. Thank goodness for our four big dogs who mulch the leaves much better than our mower! Happy Fall!

    Reply
  24. Debra says:
    November 24, 2025 at 2:07 am

    Of course, there’s the usual regional/geographic explanation. Hardly anyone in the UK would use the term fall, it’s always autumn. I once read something about the history of the terms. If I remember correctly, fall is a Victorian term. As your picture suggests being a very descriptive word. “Falling leaves season” = fall. Autumn having Latin roots, of course. Why one country prefers one word and another the other? Who knows?

    Reply
    • mitchteemley says:
      November 24, 2025 at 7:13 pm

      Fall used to be the standard term in the UK (that’s where the Americans got it from). But then Britons switched to Autumn, from the French. Americans now use both terms.

      Reply
  25. Ann Coleman says:
    November 24, 2025 at 10:23 pm

    I’ve never been sure whether I should call it Fall or Autumn….

    Reply

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  27. Michael E. Lynch says:
    November 26, 2025 at 10:52 pm

    Since we have not had much snow in the New York area over the last few years, it looks like Someone is in no rush to cover our multitude of leaves. (Better hope He’s still into covering our sins, because those are legion around here.)

    Reply

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