The onset of Autumn

Yesterday evening was the quintessential autumn evening in our home. The aura was everywhere, quite unexpectedly, I might add. My mum was burning a pumpkin-colored brown sugar and spice candle in the kitchen, and its scent gently suggested a tone of fall all through the first floor. Then there were the candles by which we had Sabbath meeting. For some reason a candlelit Sabbath meeting seems more fall or winterish than summerish, even though we use them all summer, too. With sundown coming earlier, it was dark by 7pm, and yes, our evenings are increasingly chilly, so all contributions together, we enjoyed a delicious foretaste of fall. I mentioned to Kayla that I felt I should be eating pumpkin pie and making a Thanksgiving List. That's how strong it was! Which is very convenient because I was thinking earlier in the day I should post something about fall in New England.

Those of you coming to the Feast next weekend will be glad to know the resplendent colors of autumn are well underway in Dublin. I was already out camerafying them in the wetlands last weekend. Some years the peak isn't until the third week of October, so it's only just started when the Feast rolls around. This year I'm guessing the peak around here will be the end of the first week, so you should see some crimson and gold and flames of orange, even if they aren't yet universal. For those of you not coming to the Feast...well, you can enjoy it vicariously through this post.

Mmmm...I love fall. Yes, there's a certain aspect of melancholy in it, but that's part of the beauty in it. At work yesterday I was thinking of the things I love about fall and decided to post of list of its delights. Did I do this last year? Maybe I just raved about the season--that's nothing unusual. The funny thing is, I feel like raving about every season whenever it rolls around. Remember how I extolled the virtues of snow and winter last year? And spring is absolutely amazing around here, made all the more so by the length and harshness of winter. I think the quote, "He who is forgiven little loves little, but he who is forgiven much loves much" is appropriate when referring to New Englanders and spring. I don't see how those living in any other part of the country can love spring quite so much as we do. The joys of summer go without saying...but I stated them anyway in my post about exercising on summer evenings around the lake. Now it's fall's turn.

Which leads me to the greatest case for living in New England: every season is distinctly present and extreme, unlike many other parts of the country. You can savor the characteristic attributes of spring, summer, fall, and winter. I think beautiful, unchanged weather two-thirds of the year and rain the other third would be rather boring. Give me any day the blizzards and biting winds, followed by crocuses, robins, and melting snow, fading into long, hot summer days where relief can only be found in Dublin Lake, and then the cool, spicey days of harvest when opulent foliage radiates from every limb.

The List

1. The foliage in New England. Brilliant...simply brilliant! When or where else is nature so compelling with vibrant colors? What compares to the striking hues of a red maple tree, or the golds and yellows of sugar maples and oaks? My favorite are those rare trees that start turning gradually from top to bottom, so while the leaves on the bottom boughs are still rich and green, you can trace the colors through the rainbow up to the top...yellow, orange, and finally crowned with red.

2. Weather: the flight of humidity! That clear and crisp bite of fall mornings and evenings, while the afternoons display azure skies and sunshine. Even when it rains, it's not so bad, because you feel like staying in all warm and cozy, unlike summer rain which just ruins all your plans.

3. The sweaters which have been packed away for the summer months come down off the closet shelf and you enjoy them all over again as if they're new! (Yup, I'm wearing the first of the season today! the red one I got for my birthday.)

4. Apple cider and applesauce! And biting into an apple during the Feast...one that came from an orchard instead of from the produce section of the supermarket.

5. Pumpkins and pumpkin carving.

6. The start of school (usually).

7. Candy corn (I ate a few yesterday).

8. Longer Sabbath evenings.

9. Hot drinks make sense again. I drink them in the summer, too, but in the fall they have the function of warming you up!

10. Baseball play-offs. Um, some years this is more of a factor than others. (It's not at all a factor this year...) :-)

11. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and WINTER are just around the corner!!! (go ahead and groan, all you snow-haters.)

Feel free to add to the list in the comments box.

And now some Fall pictures from past years to get you all in the mood...

































































































Who would want to live anywhere except New England in the fall?