Autumn… ah, I am totally in love with autumn! Why not, I am, after all, an autumn baby. Then there’s Halloween (always meant candy to me) and Thanksgiving (set down the pumpkin pie and back away slowly), so what’s not to love! Growing up here, in Michigan (the 26th State of the Union in the United States of America) we experience the changing of four seasons. Albeit, some parts of my great state have rather short seasonal durations… Up north, where my folks live, we joke that they have two seasons, August and winter. We have the cider mills scattered like autumn leaves, everywhere and that means, fresh donuts, crunchy apples and jugs of amazing amber liquid that goes down like sweet silk. Naturally, because we experience the seasonal changes, we also have the riot of the warm color spectrum nearly everywhere you look. Believe it or not, you can book travel tours of Michigan just to view the colors and people DO cruise every back road to enjoy the experience.
Everything from the cooler temperatures to the crunching of the leaves under foot, puts a smile on my face. There’s something remarkable about watching the trees go from hosting lush greenery to sporting botanical flame, in every possible shade (and often on the same tree). It boggles the mind how they know precisely when to turn and in the blink of an eye, a good gust of wind can come along and bye-bye color, hello stark branches. In a way, it’s like watching a magic trick that’s being performed by hundreds of magicians one right after another. Each one achieves the same result but they have their own personal way of making it happen.
We used to have bonfires, where the leaves were burned, along with fallen branches and that meant a party. You’d wrap up in your warmest flannel and sturdier jeans to hang around the crackling flames with family and friends. There was plenty of music, good food and for those “of age” a nip of alcohol to warm you up from the inside out. Hay rides carried you through pumpkin patches. If you were lucky, there was a moon to watch following you, all the while pretending that it wasn’t watching you watching.
Putting the summer outdoor furniture away meant the decorations of Indian corn, mums and pumpkins had room to spread. The celebrations just seemed to morph from one into the other until we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of winter. The ritual of exchanging the golden warmth of autumn for the blue chill of winter was a time honored tradition that seemed to be part of our DNA.
Nature’s beauty comes in all forms and to each his own. My own is and shall ever be autumn, in all her glory.
Blazing colors dance
Swirling in the playful wind
Laughing as they move
Autumn calls us out
Kisses our cheeks in crimson
Stores warmth in our hearts
©2016 Annette Rochelle Aben
I have to share one of my favorite songs… Enjoy
https://youtu.be/hsCdlX-5UjE
https://silverthreading.com/2016/09/07/wqwwc-writers-quote-wednesday-writing-challenge-autumn/
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