Look out, it’s autumn in Florida...

There was a crispness in the air on Friday morning — a reminder that this is, in fact, autumn.

Not that you’d know it by the 85-degree afternoons that make the season seem more like Summer: Part II — The Revenge of the Lovebugs.

That’s because Northwest Florida is unlike places to the north where trees change colors, hillsides turn a fiery red and yellow, and frost can appear on cold October mornings. Places where you bundle up to go for walks and can’t get your kids’ Halloween costumes on over all the layers of coats.

Here, autumn is as much about mosquitoes as the summer months are. People go to football games in shorts and flip-flops. You’re more likely to have to cut your grass than to rake fallen leaves.

Here, autumn is when going to the beach is fun again — the water’s warm, the seaweed and algae have disappeared, the sun still is hot. The summer tourists have gone away and the winter snowbirds haven’t yet arrived.

And yet … .

The autumn has a different spirit than that of summertime, a different attitude, even before the days grow noticeably shorter than the nights. There’s a sense of clocks winding down, of calendars growing thin, of minds turned back upon times long passed away.

That brings me, in my roundabout manner, to a virtual tour of the Florida Panhandle at the "Film North Florida" Web site.

The photos reveal glimpses of little communities such as Chumuckla, Jay, McDavid and Walnut Hill (and my hometown, Century) — places from my past, when days were brighter and calendars thicker and clocks wound tight.

There are more well-known places to visit there as well, such as Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Navarre. There are even forays into Alabama, including Brewton, Mobile and Flomaton.

This is where autumn takes me, time traveling to other places and times, to memories of crisp evenings and warm afternoons, to small towns and familiar faces.

Where does it take you?

Peace.

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(The preceding originally appeared in print on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2004, in slightly different form as my weekly "Undercurrents" column for The News Herald.)