I was sitting outside on the patio yesterday reading and it
still felt and looked like summer. The yard is still blooming with flowers and
I can still hear the buzz of insects and the crescendos of a few cicadas. My
Mimosa tree is still bravely putting out a few pink puffs.
Seasons are changing but the signs are not yet obvious. It’s
something you sense rather than see. I look at the surrounding hills and there
is very little color yet. But, there is a feel to the air—it’s a bit crisper in
the early mornings and the evenings. I was thinking yesterday, as I watched the
bees busy harvesting nectar from my flowers, it’s like everything is at the
moment of pause. You can feel it on the cusp of change; nature is sucking up
the last of the sunshine and food and preparing for the winter.
It may still feel like summer, I may still have to turn on
the air conditioner in the afternoons (which will continue to operate off and
on until November), but when I look across my road to our smaller pasture…ah,
now there I see the evidence of the beginning fall. The scarlet leaves
of the Sumac, a touch of yellow in the Walnut trees, the red leaves here and
there on the white Ash, a hint of yellow and orange in the Sassafras and
Dogwoods.
I do miss my morning sunshine. The angle of the sun has
changed and of course, mornings come later now. I used to take a walk between
8-8:30 every evening to unwind from my day and still have the last rays of
sunlight. Now, that’s gone and it’s almost dark by 7:30. Pretty soon it will be
dark by 5:00. Not looking forward to the loss of light.
I’m a bit ambiguous about the changes. On one hand I want to
hold on to summer and on the other I’m looking forward to snuggling up to fall
and winter. I have a lot of energy in the fall—much like the trees as they
change. I think the energy is a way of preparing for winter. I do have to move
hay bales up closer to the house, clean out the dog houses and lay in fresh hay
for bedding, fill in the summer holes that have been burrowed by the dogs to
find cool beds in the earth, and make sure all the watering troughs are ready
to go. The barn still needs a final clean up and fresh hay laid down in the
area the horses take refuge from the fall rains and winter winds. The cats come
in and out but most of them prefer to curl up in sleeping boxes filled with hay
or in the west bay of the garage, which was designed to house a tractor and
it’s where I load up the extra hay. Makes it easier to feed the horses once the
ice and snow starts and it’s a lot easier to walk fifty feet to the garage than
a quarter of a mile down to the barn to feed. Then there is the fall washing of
all the windows and cleaning of the carpets for the times when the house is
tightly closed off for winter. Still a lot to do so the energy comes in handy. J
I’m fortunate that when winter sets in I don’t have to
travel to go to work. I work from home; my commute is from the coffee pot to my
office. I have windows that look out on the property to the east and south. It
also affords me a great view of the falling snow when it comes. I love writing
when the snowfalls. My imagination flows with the autumn rains and the smell of
wood smoke in the air and winter snow. I’m working on a new writing schedule
that allows for my work schedule. I do my best creative writing in the early
morning but my non-fiction writing is best in the evenings. So I’m trying to
schedule that and start my paying job a bit later in the morning. I’m still
playing with time slots, but it’s coming together.
Seasons change. We change with the seasons. It’s the way of
nature.
- What changes do the seasons bring to you?
