Figuring Out Fall

Fall is that season that has created a love/hate relationship with us humans.  She doesn't do it intentionally or spitefully.  It is just one of those things. It happens.

Me?  Me, I love Fall.  I love all her beauty and grace.  I have pondered my love affair with Fall for quite some time.  Why she intrigues me so. Why she makes me feel the way she does.  I think I have come to some kind of conclusion.  I think. 

There is something about a season that can transition from a sweltering, sticky day into a cool, breezy one.  And then back again.  She will tease you with her coolness.  She will delight you with her colors.  And she will toy with your nostalgic side with her smells. She seems to do all this so subtly and effortlessly but with a calculated purpose. 

Her breath of cool air is much welcomed after smoldering temperatures have left us drained.  Her breezes seem to ease the tension gently from our bodies.  We too, can breathe. Regroup. She gives us warm days into cool nights and cool days into cold nights.  She prepares us for Winter.
 
Her colors are always s sight to behold.  She may move in quickly to change the landscape to her liking ~ seemingly working in the dark of night, that we may awaken to suddenly see a new world out our windows.  Or she may take her time to nonchalantly add a splash here or a dab there, gently easing into her vibrant, flashy raiment.

She has the power through her ability to change the landscape to cause us to reflect into our past, ponder our present and wonder about our future. 

Her colors are but, as they say, as season.  Soon the wind will blow a fire-y rainfall of leaves across the ground.  Unlike the wet stuff, the leaves gently swirl, drift, lift and land where they please.  Their gentle, breezy ballet is mesmerizing, causing one to daydream, stop and stare or frolic in the midst of them. 

The smells that come with fall are like a favorite blanket that not only keeps you warm, but affords you a safe place to ponder your thoughts, snuggled in, smelling the warmth of the fabric, feeling the textures of the cloth, protecting you from yourself.  That. Is.  Fall.  Your mind settles in, triggered by the smells she sends through the air, across the ground, up from the chimneys, in the early mornings, and the late of nights.  Memories and hopes arise from smelling the wispy, swirling vapor from the chimneys, observing the textures of the leaves and foliage, breathing in their musky smell kissed by the morning sun or chilled by the evening dew. 

It would be a harsh awakening moving from Summer into Winter without Fall.  She transitions us whether we like it or not.  I personally love it. I love her. 

Fall.

Fall Is In the Air

Fall is upon us
I feel it in the air
It is slowly marking it's territory
But ~  not quite everywhere.

The evening sky is shades of pink
The morning sky as well
The leaves show hints of color
But time is yet to tell.

Not long all green will fade away
Upon Nature's changing land
Her canvas will host warm new colors
At the touch of her Master's hand.

Gold, red, yellow, brown
Just to name a few
The mixture of all these shades
Will wash the land with lovely hues.

Breathtaking will the landscape be
Blazing like flames upon the earth
Then to fizzle to a gray
Preparing Nature for rebirth.

But until that time has arrived
We will bask in the warmth of it all
Watching as Nature gives to us
Glorious fireworks we call Fall!

It's the Middle of the Week

It's the middle of the week.  A middle pretty much like any other.  Today, like many other middles, is beautiful.  The sun is shining, the wind's a blowin', the temperature is comfortable and all seems right with the world.  It is Fall, after all.

I say that now, as I sit here with my third cup-o-joe (the gnats claimed my second cup ~ sly little buggers!) and my oatmeal.  I know from past experience that that can change in the blink of an eye, or, by a puddle left behind by Baby Girl.  Oh yea, we are ~ dare I say it ~ potty training.  She seems to have her own agenda for this task and has yet to clue me in.  Some days are easy-peasy, others ~ can I just say ~  "I'm tempted to bang my head into the wall."?   Yes, yes I am.  But then things settle ~ only after I have a chat with God and am reminded that she's just itty bitty and that this too shall pass (hopefully in the toilet and not on my floor).  I know all too well that tomorrow I will look back and she will be in school, and a week from now, going to college.  I know it.  I see the evidence every day.  Sense a little nostalgia here?  Yea, me too.

Well, going to finish me eats, and me java, and go look at quilt pieces and ponder what to do and ask twenty-one million times:  "Do you need to go to the bathroom?". 

And. . . .

I'll see YOU in the funny papers!

This Morning . . . .

After getting Goldilocks ready for school ~ which meant finding a pair of sneakers to fit her feet, because hers were MIA ~  doing her hair ~ and putting on Snow White (she was here very early this morning because Reasy Peacy had a field trip to The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.!), I gave Baby Girl her morning bath ~ I noticed I was able to do something that I have been waiting a looooonnnng time for.  After getting her dressed, I sat her in her place for breakfast. Then my heart took flight, along with a comb and a teeny-weeny pony tail holder!  I just love the results ~ my Grand Be`be` is growing up.

Somewhere in the midst of this, I listened as Jenny descibed how their family pet had very quickly, very unexpectedly,  gone down hill.  They had to put Chessie to sleep last night.  The family was with her.  I can hardly write this without feeling a huge knot in my chest.  I am not a pet person, but I understand all too well the attachment that families have for their pets.  And Chessie had been with them for ten years. She came from here on the shore.  Jenny wanted an authentic Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  How much more so than to come from the bay area?  This silly dog drank antifreeze about five years ago.  They didn't think she would make it, and if she did pull thru chances were slim that she would be "right" or live very long.  She did, however maintain a decent level of sanity ~ tee-hee ~  and lived for five more years.  She loved her humans, and they loved her!

So, with all this transpiring in a matter of minutes I decided in a matter of seconds that I would bake some pumpkin bread when I put Baby Girl down for her morning nap.  She's good about AM naps! I can usually count on a two hour time frame ~ now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

As I'm cleaning up from mixing my bread, I notice out the window the second graders making their yearly trek through Downtown Hebron.  They visit the bank, the post office, and Town Hall. It's important to know about the heart beat of the town that houses your school.  The cool thing is, they were able to use "Shoe Leather Express"!  School is only a couple blocks down from the hub-bub of Hebron.  And it is a beautiful fall morning!

Can I just say that: "I love fall days like this."?  The sky is overcast, the leaves ~what's left of them ~  are vibrant yellows, reds and golds.  The wind is lilting along, as if it too knows today is a perfectly wonderful fall day and it needs to take it's time to enjoy the journey.  It's the type of day that settles my spirit. Calms me from the inside out.  Makes me feel very domesticated and nostalgic.  I think of days gone by, days at hand, and days yet to come.  I think of people that have entered, stayed, and left my life.  I. Think. Of. Life.

Well, Be`be` is rustling.  I think she smells the pumpkin bread!  Better go ~ she's not one to wait! ! !

The Sights, The Smells, The Sounds, The Sensations of Fall!

Although Fall's official "move in" date is today, She has been sneaking stuff into her domain for a bit now.  If you've been paying attention you would have noticed her subtleties.

Even before Fall started her own personal decorating, the signs that she was on her way were visible for us to see.  The school buses busy on the roads like huge golden caterpillars, picking up and dropping off their charges ~ from home to school and back again.  Diligent they are, yes indeed.  In the air you have the crop duster who is out there soaring like a huge giant butterfly, readying the fields for the farmers for their fall and winter crops.  He scoops and lifts no less gracefully than a Monarch.  He too, is very busy, and very brave!

The farmers are loading pumpkins on their flatbeds to take to the local produce stands.  The "you pick" mums are in full bloom, and the corn fields of summer may now give way to Fall's frolic in the Corn Maze!

Fall has also started picking the color pallet for her "home".  She is testing out the reds, yellows, greens and browns on the trees, fields and bushes around her. A dab here, a dab there.   The swatches are just a sample of what is to come.  She's painted the moring sky with hues of pink and she's hung a harvest moon in the night sky ~ just for us ~ for our enjoyment. She will eventually have all the colors in place as she settles in for her stay.  Once she has selected her pallet she will carefully, but quickly apply her selections to all things around her. She will decorate just quickly, for she knows Old Man Winter will do things his own way upon his arrival.  And. . . she knows we need time to enjoy.  And adjust.

If you have a keen sense of smell, you will notice the dampness that comes will Fall's arrival.  The heavy dew on the ground leaves a musty smell on all it covers, especially in the shaded, wooded areas.  The "hot" smell of Summer has faded away.  You can smell the rotting melons in the fields, the ones that missed summer harvest, or were root rotted because of too much rain. Soon in their place will be the smells of burning leaves and  wood stoves that are warming up homes kissed by cool nights, spice sprinkled goodies baking in the oven, and the cool crisp air that tingles as you breathe. A breath of fresh air, indeed.

One of the sounds that eluded to the fact that Summer was winding down and Fall was on her way was the sound of the Cicada.  Almost an urgency to their music. "Hurry up and play.  School and Fall are on the way!"   As time wore on, the Crickets began their songs, nestled up against the house and under the bushes in hopes of finding shelter before Fall made her appearance.  The crows make themselves known by perching on wires or hiding in trees, cawing to their cronies ~ feeling like  a cross between  Edgar Allen Poe's, The Raven,  and Hitchcock's movie, The Birds!  Then we have the honking of the geese (a more pleasant sound) as they fly over, moving from one field to the next, looking to fatten up before Fall opens her doors to Winter. The song birds of fall brighten her sunny days and remind us of seasons past and seasons to come.  Fall is "uploading"  her music before taking up residency amongst us.  A beautiful orchestra that only she can conduct.  The songs are always original, cleverly blended and free for the listening.  And listen I do.

Fall is a sensation of escape - an escape into a  gallery of color, sound and smell.  She leaves no sense untouched.  She is cautious of her responsibility to move us from Summer to Winter in a way that wraps us like a warm, fuzzy blanket.  She loves her job.  It shows in her handiwork.  I love her!  I cannot wait for her finished product ~ to bask in the results of her skills. I will miss her when she goes, but that's ok ~  she will be back.  Of this I am certain.