How do we know the seasons have changed? The Pink Pig opens soon at Lenox Square. AJC/Phil Skinner

On one of those cold, windy, October-but-feels-like-November days of a few weeks ago, we planned to mark the change of seasons by adding a few pink azaleas to the dirt patch in front of our house. Considering the ground is already half-frozen where I grew up, this felt like a very Georgia thing to do.

But I was swiftly out-Georgia-ed (and out-pinked) by an offhand comment, the kind that only makes sense in Atlanta. In line with my shrubs, a burst of wind and raindrops led the woman ahead of me to say, “Can you believe it’s almost time to ride the Pink Pig?”

I’m still not sure I understand it — pig trains and Christmas and Rich’s/Macy’s and Atlanta mix together…how? — bu the words “pink pig” mean more here than a meal at Abattoir or a reading of “Charlotte’s Web.”

And indeed, it’s almost here. Photographer Phil Skinner shot photos of the traditional Pink Pig holiday ride while it was going up at Macy’s at Lenox Square yesterday.

Here’s a then-and-now Pink Pig photo gallery from WSB, and a National Public Radio story about the Pink Pig from 2008.

Want to go? The Pink Pig at Macy’s-Lenox Square. Nov. 7-Jan. 3. $3. Macy’s Lenox Square, 3399 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. www.macys.com/campaign/pinkpig/home.jsp

• Free Pink Pig preview rides are available during a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta benefit at 3 p.m. Nov. 5. www.choa.org.

This photo shows the Pink Pig monorail flying high in Atlanta when it was located on the roof of Rich's downtown department store in the 1960s. Priscilla and Percival Pig now live at the Atlanta History Center. AJC file photo