One of the greatest things about the coming of autumn - in addition to the fact that I get to stop hating the heat/humidity combo - is the glorious day when I get on the train in the morning, open the paper and discover, via an advertisement or a mention in a column or something, that Starbucks has its pumpkin coffee back in season.

I’m not much for spending a lot of money on my coffee; while I enjoy buying a good cup, it’s not something I do all the time. But the flavor of pumpkin is somehow the entire season, distilled: It’s playing soccer when you were a kid, it’s a crisp evening with a sweater; it’s going to football games on Friday night. So, naturally, I had to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

My first thought: Damn, that’s expensive. More than $4. The second: What’s in a latte, anyway? I bet it’s going to have whipped cream on top. I don’t want whipped cream on top. My third thought: Oh, they have pumpkin scones too.

‘Pumpkin Spice Latte and a pumpkin scone,’ I said.

‘You really like pumpkin, don’t you?’ she asked. Knew that one was coming.

In any case, it was great, I felt at one with the cool morning air, all that. Then my boss sent me the link an article on ‘the eight most fattening foods in fall,’ and instructed me to look at number three on the list. It was my latte.

I went to Starbucks’ nutritional information and discovered that I had just consumed nearly 1,000 calories. At least the marathon is this weekend. Looks like I’m going to need it.