Back to school. Yes, it is that time of year again.

I might be in the minority here, but I always loved fall and the turn of the season, picking out new pencils and notebooks—and in college new textbooks and the phenomenon we university kids liked to call syllabus shock, that come with going back to school. I actually really miss going back to school, but I just bought an illusive box of my favorite pens on Amazon. Sorry, Megan, but I can’t find them at a local store!

It’s shaping up to be an interesting year for education both at the national level and in our two school systems. There’s things like the Common Core State Standards, new teacher and principal evaluation systems, states receiving—or not receiving—waivers related to No Child Left Behind and how that will affect the teacher new teacher and principal evaluation systems, new members of the administrative teams at some of our schools, standards based grading, Future Ready, and, of course, the Tahoma School District’s construction bond that will be on the ballot on Nov. 5.

There’s a lot that will be happening in the year ahead, for sure.

Another thing I’ve always loved about fall is the sports. I’m rather partial to football—the Biola University football team has been undefeated since 1908—and swimming in near and dear to me because I was a competitive swimmer growing up.

After a break from covering high school sports this summer I’m looking forward to getting out to games, seeing our school teams compete, and getting more experience covering games and meets.

And then there’s fall baking. For most people Labor Day weekend is a last chance to celebrate summer, use that barbecue one more time before the rain sets in. I spent it breaking out the ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and pumpkin. My kitchen smelled heavenly.

Some of my favorite fall recipes include pumpkin pie granola, gingerbread, and pumpkin roll. We always made gingerbread as a back to school/end of summer treat when I was a kid and it’s a tradition I’ve happily continued every year including improvising and mixing the dough by hand and using a cup for a rolling pin in a dorm kitchen.

One year I was trying out a new recipe that happened to coincide with an extra credit assignment to bake cookies for firefighters (no joke) at my sister and brother-in-law’s and I didn’t read the entire recipe before deciding to double it and use up all the molasses we had. Fourteen cups of flour later, my sister’s Kitchen Aide mixer bowl was on the verge of overflowing, the corner of her kitchen was covered in flour dust (as was I), and I subsequently spent hours baking those cookies, but I don’t think my brother-in-law’s co-workers minded a bit. It’s a memory my sister and I have laughed over often, and I’ve caught myself almost making the same mistake a few times.

Last weekend I also tried out my grandmother’s caramel corn recipe that I had never made before. I’m still trying to get it just right, it can be a bit finicky and I did burn a batch, but overall I’d say it was a success and it was a successful baking weekend in general.

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how it can be fall again already, and that I’ve been here almost a year, but nevertheless it is and we’re running at full speed ahead.