It’s fall. I could not possibly be more excited. Fall will always be my favorite season. The other morning, G and I were outside playing fetch with Duncan and he commented that “it could be this weather every day and I’d be happy.” Oh, me, too!

Once again, I do feel partially responsible for this amazingly cool, clear weather that we’ve been having. For the past three weekends, the WH and I have looked at each other and said, “is this the weekend we winterize the pool?” And, we’ve simultaneously said, “nope, as soon as we do that, it will be in the 90s again.” Our good friend Murphy and his law are making sure that we won’t have anything close to a pool day until next June.

We’ve been slow to accept fall’s onset in other areas, as well. First, we stopped turning on the ceiling fans before we went to bed. Then, the slightly heavier blankets reappeared a few days later. This bought us a few more days of sleeping with the windows open.

However, the arrival of the first frost and kids running into our rooms with their teeth chattering, complaining that they could see their breath in the morning, ended that phase as well. We were also pretty sure that the furnace kicked on with the thermostat on its lowest setting possible, so it was time to accept the inevitable. It was time to fire up the wood stove.

If the cooler temps didn’t solidify fall’s arrival, the smell of a wood fire wafting over the yard certainly did.

Navigating this whole live/work/sleep/play/do it all from home world continues to come with challenges. From the beginning, I have resisted the urge to stay in my pajamas all day, and I haven’t allowed the kids to do it either. For one thing, my pajamas mostly consist of old T-shirts and worn-out gym pants. They’re worn to the exact point of soft threadbareness that is a step away from disintegration, and I didn’t want to wear them out completely. And, for another, I’m a firm believer in getting dressed for the day in a manner that keeps you feeling somewhat professional, even if your only job is being a student.

I will confess that as the stay-at-home orders have continued, I have definitely moved into the area of wearing more comfortable clothes. Last spring, my huge realization was that working from home meant that I could wear my favorite long skirts and flowy dresses every single day. As summer progressed, I discovered the T-shirt dress, fancy enough to be considered “dressed up,” but not much more than a step above a nightshirt.

With our busy schedules before, I didn’t have a need for “lounging around the house” clothing. I had my work clothes, and my coaching clothes, and that was about it. Last spring, on a quick trip into Tractor Supply for some animal food, I happened to notice a table of clearance items that included some flannel “lounge” pants and long-sleeved cotton T-shirts.

I keep trying to focus on the convenience of a life that allows to shop for chicken scratch and jammies under the same roof, and not dwell on the fact that I’m buying my lingerie at the tractor store. That’s pandemic life for you!

What initially attracted my attention was the adorable little sheep print. I am a sucker for all things sheep, and when I noticed they were labeled Christmas leftovers, and marked down to about one-third their original price, I thought, “what the heck! I could use some lounge pants.” I was on a slippery slope. I suddenly realized the allure of clothes that sort of felt like real clothes but were pajamas in disguise.

At least the silly sheep print kept me from wearing them out in public, but then again, I wasn’t going out in public much those days anyway. Once summer got here, my sheep pants got packed away, and I enjoyed mixing up skirts, dresses and the occasional pair of shorts, and I felt like I was back to maintaining my high standards of dressing for work at home.

One night last week, though, I went to sit out on the porch. It was a clear, cool evening, with a gorgeous sunset happening in the distance. I settled down with a book and enjoyed the evening birds singing the rest of the woods to sleep. It wasn’t long before the sun dipped behind the trees and it got chilly quickly. I wrapped my cardigan around me, but that only bought me a few more minutes. Not wanting to go through the effort of dragging a blanket out, I quickly ran upstairs to pull some warmer clothes out. As I reached into the back of my drawer, my hand felt something warm and fuzzy. It was my sheep pants. I had forgotten all about them.

I quickly pulled them on, and then dug out my fleece-lined slippers. It was the perfect outfit for a night on the porch. I wasn’t even interested in continuing to read my book. I was just content to snuggle into my flannels and my slippers, and watch the stars come out one by one. Eventually, the moon came up over the trees as well.

Yet another lesson has been learned from the pandemic. Not only is it important to have lounge pants in your life, it’s important to make the time to wear the lounge pants. The next day, I had to dress things up a little, including some jewelry, some makeup and a fairly fancy shirt. I threw on a skirt, just to help with my mindset. I wanted to be sharp and professional, and wearing the right clothes got the job done.

As I took one last glance in the mirror before I joined the video conference, I saw my sheep pants, carefully folded and waiting for me. I had a busy day full of meetings, and we had quite a few practices to navigate through, but I knew at the end of the day, the sheep pants and I had an appointment on the porch.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.