You will be pleased to know that this is the last of the four seasons to be looked at. Also, you may be pleased to know that I can't find that many suitable song lyrics to intersperse between the different sections.

We are returning to Riverblossom Hills. Graphically, this time of year both at lot and neighborhood level is one of the more attractive. I am very impressed with the work that the creators have put into the graphical effects for the four seasons.

Apart from evergreens, the decorative trees are either brown or have shed their leaves. The fallen leaves cover the ground and can either be left there or they can be raked up into piles.

Firstly, sims can play in these leaf piles. It does scatter the pile again, but it does add to a sim's fun.

Secondly, if you have a compost bin, they can be put in there. If you have a lot of trees, this means you have a lot of compost. As compost is very beneficial for preparing vegetable plots, all that raking can pay off in the long run.

Thirdly, these these leaf piles can be burnt. I am yet to see the effects of this if you have an outdoors fire alarm, though.

Whereas the other seasons looked more at the social side of a sim's life, this season brings benefits to their education. This positive benefit comes in the form of a 25% increase in a sim's learning and fixing abilities. Skill learning is done at an accelerated rate and if that toilet needs unclogging, the trash compactor needs repairing (again), homework needs to be finished or even a term paper needs to be done on time, that 25% increase applies. This also applies to badges achieved through time on the job, whether they be business badges or gardening and fishing badges.

In Riverblossom Hills where Autumn/Fall follows Spring, it makes sense to rack up as many friends in the Spring and rack up as many skills in the Autumn/Fall to help get up the career ladders.

If your sims planted their tomatoes, pole beans and cucumbers early in the Summer, the crops should be ready for harvesting. If they were planted too late and the seasons follow logically, the winter weather could ruin them. I will be looking in more detail at gardening in the next section.

Harvested fruit and vegetables go into the sim's own inventory. If the lot is being run as a business, it goes into the proprietor's inventory instead. Alternately, ripe vegetables and fruit can be immediately sold instead. Logically, the value of the crops depends upon the quality.

Assuming some of the crops at least are harvested and not sold off, they can stay in the inventory for eternity. However, it serves more purpose to put them in the fridge or the juicer. I will be looking at homegrown produce in cooking and the juicer in the next section.

As this season provides accelerated learning of badges, it is a good time for sims to get in some last minute fishing or work on their vegetable plots, even if it is just preparing the soil for the next planting.

# a gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
as if to hide a lonely tear
my life will be forever autumn
cos you're not here #

Did I say that I couldn't find any suitable song lyrics?

Seasons brings a new aspiration reward in the form of the Weathernaught 57X, which is a weather machine. At only 7000 points, this device can be very useful indeed. It has five charges before it needs replacing but at a reasonable price, it should be quite easy to afford another.

You can change the seasons, but only to those allowed in that neighborhood. You cannot make it become Summer in Riverblossom Hills.

You can control the precipitation, causing it to snow, hail or even have constantly clear skies.

You can also prolong the seasons by either a day, 3 days or indefinitely. Alexandra O'Mackey, the infamous Dread Pirate, has used her Weathernaught to make it be "forever autumn" until she decides otherwise as she has harvesting to do and does not want the snow to destroy her vegetables.

However, with almost all aspiration rewards, there is a downside to it. Muahahaha. If it is used by someone who does not have a gold or platinum aspiration level, there is a chance of things not quite working out as expected. heavens open and it rains fire. To paraphrase Johnny Cash, it would do something like this.

I goofed up with a burning rain of fire
It came down,down,down
and the flames went higher
And it burns,burns,burns,
the rain of fire,
the rain of fire

Sorry, I couldn't resist it. Sims are advised to take cover from falling fireballs. Alexandra Fuchs (she remarried) tried to use the Weathernaught when her aspiration level was only in the green. The rain of fire does seem to be localised around the weathernaught, though. I did not notice any fireballs landing to the front of their house.

That would logically bring is round again to Winter, which we have already looked at. Therefore, this brings our indepth look at the four seasons to an end. In the next and penultimate part, we will look in more detail at Fishing, Gardening, the Garden Club and the miracle effects of juicers.