Autumn has arrived.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The equinox has passed. Football season is into its fourth week. The leaves are turning, although not quite as nicely as I’d hoped. The World Series is nearly upon us. We’ve had more than our first frost. None of these are signs of fall, however.

This morning I heard my first flock of Canadian geese. Yeah, I’m sure they’ve been flying for a week or two, but this is the first time I’ve seen them; therefore my fall has arrived.

The classic “V” shape wasn’t there, yet - they’re still forming up for their trip south. I saw maybe three distinct grouping, though, with embryonic “V” groupings.

M & P, I’m sure. It’s just that I’ve only spent two falls back here, where I grew up. When you’re around it all the time you forget how magical the change of seasons is. When I came home it was in early spring to grey skies and dead trees and mud. Within a month the trees were leafed out and the lilacs were in bloom.

Then summer, with its attendant heat and humidity (although, at that time, humidity was a joke, after three years in Hawaii). Time spent at fairs of all sorts - town, craft, art, county, state. Time spent at lakes, fishing or boozing or both.

Then my favorite season arrived. Fall, with all its glorious colors and feelings and smells and…

Look. You did not grow up as I did, on the farm with your grandparents next door. Or if you did, you did not spend countless fall afternoons drinking coffee (maybe with a spot of brandy grampa “accidentally spilled”) or hot chocolate reading a book next to the fireplace your great-grandfather built. Or if you did, the house of your grandparents does not smell or look or sound like the house of my grandparents.

Then spring again. It sneaks up on you, you know. You drive back and forth to work every day, or glance out your window now and again, and you see dead trees. Then a few days later you notice just a little tiny bit of green. And you swear - you SWEAR - that this year you are going to pay attention. And then life happens - instead of seeing just a little bit of more green every day, you see GREEN. And you’re just a little bit sad, because you MEANT to notice the incremental changes, but you couldn’t or wouldn’t or didn’t.

Once when I was married to the Navy and stationed in Hawaii I managed to afford a plane ticket home for Christmas. After a 10-hour flight I was tired, but gazed in wonder at the lace the tree branches presented against the white snow for the 75-mile highway north to home. When you’re slogging through all that cold and snow and muck you have little time to notice the beauty.

When I was stationed in FL and DC and HI I took delight in the lack of seasons, and missed them at the same time. Some of you in the DC DC area will say it has seasons, but it does not have real winter, so it doesn’t count. Some of you live in mild climes and will gush about your moderate weather.

But in my mind, you have not experienced life until you have seen the birth and life and dying and death of the green.

The beginning of the end is here, because of the geese. I’m not worried, though. In a few short months the beginning will start, and I’ll get to see the cycle all over again.

[Edited by Eutychus55 on 10-03-2000 at 05:51 AM]

2

Hooboy, I FUBARed that vB coding bad, didn’t I?

::sing-song voice::

Mo-ds…oh, MO-ods…clean me up, please?

3

>> Some of you in the DC DC area will say it has seasons, but it does not have real winter, so it doesn’t count

What??!! Will you come and shovel the snow? I can show you photos of my yard with 3’ of snow! You must have been here on a mild winter.

At any rate, today was a beautiful day and I did some yard work. The maple across the street is already beginning to change colors…

4

sailor, you seem like a nice guy, and I like you and all, but…

Anyplace that shuts down over 2" of snow does not have a real winter. :smiley:

Ring me up in January and I’ll invite you on up to Minnesota - no, it’s not Alaska or Alberta, but at least you’ll understand my definition of “real winter”! :wink:

5

Well… I must say that was quite the post. I heartily agree with you concerning fall. The leaves, the colours, the smells, that nice little chill to the air in the mornings. Ahhh… too bad winter’s here and it’s frickin’ snowing outside.
Now where did I put that shovel?

6

I agree, Sandy. Really, I do. Great OP, btw.

7

We have geese flying over our house all summer; it seems to be part of the route from the Beaver Islands to Lake George. And I hear them while I am walking to class every morning.

Do you know why one side of the vee that geese fly in is almost always longer than the other side?

Because there are more geese on that side (ba dum dum)(sorry sandyr, I couldn’t resist).

We may go out to St. John’s this weekend to see the leaves, because I hear they are at peak. But I see so many beautiful trees right here in St. Cloud on the way to class. (And you think St. Cloud is boring, sandyr.)

8

>> sailor, you seem like a nice guy, and I like you and all, but…

Yeah, there’s always a “but” :frowning:

Anyplace that shuts down over 2" of snow does not have a real winter.

It’s not 2", it’s more like over 2’ and they don’t shut down because it’s cold. They shut down because they are the government and it really doesn’t make much difference whether they go to work or they stay home.

>> Ring me up in January and I’ll invite you on up to Minnesota -

No thanks, I can see your intentions… you’ll hand me a shovel and tell me to get myself to work shoveling snow. No thank you.

I am a warm blooded animal. If I lived in a climate like that I would probably hibernate all winter. I’d get under the blankets and not come out til Spring.

I love Minnesota as told by Garrison Keillor… while I listen to him from some warm place, sailing in a nice breeze :slight_smile:

You say it does not snow in DC? What about these photos I took?

BTW, I observe the solstices and equinoxes very religiously and to the minute. One more reason for people to believe I am nuts.

Just in case you want to join me, the Winter solstice, will be December 21, 13:37 UTC. I hope to be somewhere warm. Raise your glass (or your cup of morning coffee, as the case may be) and think of me. Where ever I am (hopefully somewhere warm), I will be doing the same. And you are welcome to join me :slight_smile:

9

I love Autumn.
I like to buy those leafy decorations, pumpkin pie, etc.
I just wish summer would come after autumn.

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Just wanted to say that I enjoyed and concurred with your OP. Though I haven’t had the extremes of HI and AK, I was born and raised in the midwest, and even as a child I loved the richness of the seasons. I moved to the southwest as an adult and had eight years of minimal season change; I still remember the first time I came back for a visit (it was spring) and was totally intoxicated by the lush grass and vegetation growing in the highway medians as I drove from the airport. Now that I’m back full time in the land of richness, I love it all the more. And anytime we hear the honking of geese passing by, which is not uncommon at our little country home, we still hurry to the window or the porch to look for the vee. Sometimes they land and overnight in the big field next door, which is always a treat. Pairs occasionally land on our own pond, which is the super-treat.

I got out my apple/spice/pumpkin scented candles this week; it’s 70 degrees today but supposed to be 40 by the weekend. I also bought a nice ham hock yesterday so I could put a crock pot of bean soup on as soon as the temp drops. Mmmm… Fall…

BTW, one of the nice things about this area is that people really get into fall, putting up lots of cool decorations and holding a variety of cool fests - not just Halloween but autumn itself. Oh, and did I mention that cider has come in at the farm markets?

(Note to self, remember to reserve “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” at the library in a week or two.)

11

yes, I, too love the fall. Crisp apples (I’m in mid MI), cider, leaves beginning to chang…BANG BANG BANG . oh yea, hunting season. :frowning:

and yes, just last night another hunter pounding on our door…

12

[hijack]

Damn it wring…

They are doing the right thing and asking permission. So you get pissed when they trespass and you get pissed when they stop and ask permission. The locals must love you.

Geez… I know that comes across harsh but give me a break here. You chose to live in an area where hunting is a part of the local way of life.

[/hijack]

Fall is the most beautiful season of the year but I must agree with sandyr that the passing of the seasons is a wonderful experience. I have always said I wish it could be fall year round but part of its beauty comes from experiencing the changes each season brings. Familiarity breeds contempt… sandyr hits that nail on the head when she talks about things she noticed upon returning home from her tour with the Navy. Taking a drive or a walk through the national and state forests(soon to be strip mined courtesy of Mr. Bush) is never better than in the fall of the year.
St. Cloud if I do remember, right sandy… That must be beautiful this time of year. We do OK for ourselves here in Wisconsin too.

13

response to hijack.

** Sledman ** since said hunter had to walk past the SIGN IN OUR LAWN that says ** *"NO HUNTING ** *, I think that I’m correct in being annoyed at being asked. thank you.

And as far as “I chose to live where there’s hunting”… we went through all that already in the other thread. I was responding to the OP, yes, I love fall, all except the little detail of people shooting guns all over my neighborhood.

And, frankly, I think you owe a bigger apology to the OP than “hijack”. I’d ** chosen ** to NOT open the thread you’re referencing again (although, as you’ll note, I posted on October 3 that the hunters were already there and y’all were busy in that thread saying “oh, it’s only two weeks” and “not during fall color time”, to which I responded, nay, tis for MOST of the fall - it’s already open and will continue til after the first of the year).
Now, back to the OP. ** Sandyr ** please forgive both of us. I personally LOVE the fall. And your lovely OP refreshed my mind as to why. Now, I’ll sit back and crunch my Cortland Apple and have some cider, thank you.

14

My apologies sandyr and everyone else.

wring…

A No Hunting sign does not automatically infer that you will allow no one to hunt. The liability the landholder has is a main reason for these signs. I will post my land but that does not mean I will not allow others to hunt there. It means I want to know who is hunting and control the impact on my land. You on the other…(never mind wrong forum)

And for the record you dredged up the other thread by tossing in the last line of your original post.

**and yes, just last night another hunter pounding on our door… **

Again my apologies to sandyr and most everyone else. I will not continue this here.

15

The trees are turning nicely, the local Canada geese are V-ing around on practice flights. The mornings are crisp and clear, and the spicy scent of dying leaves is on the air.

Yep! It’s my favourite season.

32 degrees this morning when I left for work.

16

BTW, beautifulOP, sandyr.

Parts of it gave me that dreamy floating mental feeling, like reading Ray Bradbury.

Thanks.

17

Wow, Sandyr, such a great OP. Thank you, for reminding me of what’s important in life, when some of the little details seem overwhelming. I’m very homesick for fall. I spent a year in northern Maine, traveled all over New England, up into Canada, and lived in Nebraska twice now. My older brother lives in Wisconsin, so I do get to see it now and then. Here in south central Texas, most people are pretty clueless about what real fall is.

Coming in here and reading this was like taking a brief break from all of the hecticness in my life at the moment. A little measure of peace, a quiet respite in the midst of a storm. Thank you very much, Sandy.
<thinking back to other falls, imagining the smells, the sounds of crisp leaves, hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick to stir with…MMMMmmmmmmmMMMMMmmm…>

18

Spider - yeah, but it’s different when the leaves are changing :smiley:

sailor -

a) CHICKEN! :wink:

b)Wow. That is truly a tempting offer. Hm. Let me get back to you on that one…

sledman and wring, knock it off :wink:

wring, the hunters are doing what they’re supposed to, and they don’t know your anti-hunting stance before they knock on your door - remember what sled said about the meanings of the signs.

**corvus, Joey, Spider, vanilla, cygnus, Vestal Blue, purplebear…**thanks :o

19

sandy r - then when I have a sign on my door saying “no soliciting” some one selling door to door should knock and ask if it means them? :rolleyes:

People who WISH to allow certain folks to hunt on their property tell them personally. Or certain friends/relatives ask and given permission or not. If you don’t KNOW the person, AND their property is posted “NO HUNTING” you have NO business going up to their door and saying “Gee, you really don’t mean me, do you?” How 'bout if we add a “YES, THIS MEANS YOU, TOO!!!” to the sign.

you know, I was really trying NOT to hijack it anymore.