Happy Fall

 Fall has arrived. The leaves are just beginning to turn, a few already making it to the ground. I'm seeing the fall grass come in also. Corn is being combined and fields laid bare, yes, all the signs are present. I am looking forward to cool days and chilly nights. Fall is my favorite time of year. I think that reflects my age as well, having reached the fall of my years. Not too hot, the days aren't too long, everything is less busy, except for the squirrels. I enjoy seeing the children at the bus stops, another product of aging I suppose, almost sentimental in nature. Soon it will be dark when I go to bed, another indication of ageing. Now I wonder why I ever thought it a good idea to stay up half the night. When I was young I wanted bedtime to be much later, I wanted to stay up. Now that I can, I want to go to bed. Life sure is full of paradoxes. 

 In todays world Pumpkin spice dominates the fall. As for me the only use a pumpkin has is making a jack-o-lantern. I do not eat pumpkin pie or pumpkin anything else. I've scooped the guts out of too many pumpkins to want to try and eat that disgusting mush. Well, fact is I'm not much on any kind of squash, just doesn't appeal to me at all. And the turkey is best the next day, as a sandwich, on toast with lettuce and lots of mayo. That's how you eat turkey. But the fall does present the ability to have oatmeal for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch and chili or stews for supper. Fall foods are the best. Months with an "r" in them allow the eating of oysters and scallops. That is what I was taught growing up. Long clams had to wait for a month with an "r" in it. How I remember digging those clams, hands freezing reaching into that mud. Worth the frostbite every time. But that has changed over the years and all are enjoyed year round. I have to say it has removed some of the excitement, the special feeling, about that. They say anticipation is often greater pleasure than the thing itself! There are cases where I believe that to be true. Self denial is something that we should all learn, and something sadly not being taught today.

 I enjoyed burning leaves. I loved that smell, still do. Someone should make a cologne that scent, call it fall. Yeah, I know there are some folks that think it stinks and I know they say it causes cancer these days. I know that practice has been banned in a lot of places. I know they say you shouldn't rake up those leaves anymore, leave them as natural fertilizer and as a blanket to warm the ground. I don't care, I'm raking and burning whenever I can. It was a time when the neighbors would stop by and chat, no one wants to miss a fire. It's like working on your car, the guys will stop by to give advice and tell you how they fixed there stuff. The ladies would chat over the clothesline too. But all that is in the past, for the most part. The neighbors don't see your unmentionables anymore. And that reminds me this time of year would also see quilts and heavy blankets being aired out for use in the coming weeks. Taken out of their chests or a box under the bed they would be hung on the clothesline to be aired, sometime you needed an extra clothes pole because of the weight. We would just find a branch in the woods or use a 2x4 temporarily. When I was growing up there was always lumber around. 

 Fall is the prelude to the cold hard winter. I have a love/hate relationship with that season. Not a big fan but would miss it if it didn't arrive. I know that from having lived in the south a few years, I like the stillness of winter interrupted by the excitement of Christmas. Memories and sentiment do warm the soul. Still a sadness accompanies all of that when we remember those that are no longer with us. Still tradition remains, even if only observed by you. I was born in the heart of summer, on a Monday morning. That was back in '53 and in a different world. I've seen the seasons come and go many times, fifty two to be precise. Winter is coming, next! That is perhaps the function of fall, to give us pause, a chance to reflect. The "golden" years are when? Some experts say that it is the time between retirement(65) and eighty, when our bodies generally begin to fail us. I suppose it is a fitting description as in fall the leaves do turn golden, it's only the returning to the ground part that gives us pause. Well, Happy Fall to all of you born in '56 or sooner, you are in your golden years.