Autumn

I do love fall. Seems most of the major changes in my life have been made in the fall, and while I am not an easy "changer", I greet autumn with a lot of anticipation and a smidgen of ....what? Dread is too strong a word, but trepidation is not it, either. Worry? Nope. Just that butterflies in your stomach kind of feeling. There were always the beginnings of school years, with all its changes, but I graduated nursing school in early September, (almost fall) married in the fall, conceived my daughter in the fall, made 4 moves during fall seasons, started several jobs in the fall. Lots of good things, but lots of...changes.



In reading other bloggers this week, (at least in the northern hemisphere!), I see a pattern here, a common feeling that makes me wonder if it's genetic. Autumn seems to be the season for nesting--for getting our homes ready to hunker down for the winter. Maybe it's a wisp of caveman days, when the gatherers brought in as much from the harvest as possible, and the hunters brought home the meat to be cured and stored for the long winter ahead. All around blog land I "see" folks redecorating, repairing, reflecting, drawing our families in to our hearts and hearths. There's a lot of knitting, crocheting, quilting, and painting going on, making our surroundings beautiful, because we're gonna be here a while, and we're gonna make the best of it, by golly, with rich, warm colors and cozy textures.

The light is different now, aside from there being less hours of it. There seems to be a golden hue to everything, even on cloudy days.


The night sounds are different. Did you know that cicadas are what you hear in the daytime, and katydids are what sing with the crickets at night? They aren't quite the same. And when you begin to hear the katydids in the daytime, the first frost is about 6 weeks away. Sort of the Puxatawny Phil of the Fall. I find myself turning off the radio in the car if I have to be out at twilight or later, just to hear the night noises and to catch a whiff of autumn. It's time to leave the sliding glass door open, and open the windows at night while we pull up that extra blanket we washed earlier today. My sewing machine is working overtime, trying to complete projects started when it was too hot to think of quilts.


I find myself perusing soup and stew and bread recipes, and reaching for the boxes of hot chocolate at the grocery store. We haven't had oatmeal for breakfast in months, but it just seemed right this morning. More of my neighbors are out walking their dogs in the mornings, and the early evenings. We smile and discuss the weather while our canine friends communicate as only dogs can. Tandi is up for a good game of fetch these days, though she prefers to wait til the dew has dried up a little. The camera is a little more active in the fall.



Lace curtains in the dining room suddenly look out of place. I get a couple of my oil lamps down from the ledge in my kitchen and clean the chimneys and trim the wicks. The fall table runner I worked on by hand for several years is on the dining room table now.


The oil burner my daughter bought me is loaded almost nightly with scents named "Earth's Riches" and "Perfect Pumpkin", and yummy-smelling candles are falling into my basket at local shops. I try not to always be waiting for the next season to arrive, because now is all we have. But I think it's time to get those plastic bins out of the garage and spread a little gold and plum and orange and chocolate around....