First of Autumn

From my childhood this time of year has brought on special feelings within me. There is a little melancholy at seeing the summer end, an excitement as I feel the change of season and look forward to a winter with (hopefully) some nice snowy days. There are also feelings of accomplishment as I think of the time of harvest. It is a season of memories also. Memories of the just past summer and summers before. Memories of growing up around a farm, where the hay was put in the barn, hogs were killed on a frosty morning, and we started using heat in the house for the season. I remember the wood burning stove that was in the living room. It was later changed to an oil burning stove, which seemed to be more efficient.

The weather in the fall always makes me feel better. Nice cool and even frosty mornings, warming enough to just wear short sleeves by the afternoon, and then cooling back down in the evenings. The days get shorter, so you come into the house sooner and spend time as a family. Of course, these days, it seems that tv and the computer invade that family time. I have to watch myself with both of these activities, as they tend to draw me in for hours at a time if I am not careful. Then I feel like kicking myself for all the time I have wasted.

It is much better when I pick up my guitar, banjo, or other instrument and do some picking.

While I think the weather is the biggest part of my affinity for the fall, I also think part of it comes from growing up basically on a farm and knowing the satisfaction of the season of harvest, and also for the knowledge of another change of season and looking forward to Thanksgiving (I was born on Thanksgiving) and Christmas. Also, there are the wonderful memories of riding around the mountains to see all the leaf colors with my parents and sisters as we grew up.

I have spent a lot of my life outdoors in some fashion or the other, and what can be better than walking or hiking through the woods as a multitude of different colored leaves cling to the trees and carpet the ground. There is that neat, crisp, sound of newly fallen leaves as you walk through them. That becomes silent after a winter of ice and water softens them down.

Cool and even frosty mornings, followed by afternoons that are warm enough for short sleeves, but not so warm to cause a lot of sweating. So what is not to like about fall. It is also the time you can begin to enjoy sitting by a fire, either outside or a fireplace. It is also a time that causes me to spend time contemplating and remembering. Remembering warm and wonderful memories of things that have happened in my life. A time for contemplating on those things that just feed my soul and give a deep and abiding joy in my life.

I hope you have a great fall, and enjoy it almost as much as I do. Now, to be able to get back outside and enjoy this thing called Autumn.