Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Autumn Song


Autumn is here, the days are far shorter than the were, there is a chill in the air at nightfall, the starlings gather in their masses, twisting and turning in the air - hundreds of individuals acting nearly as one.

I love fall. It brings back warm memories, it is the last of the pleasant weather before the plunge into the bitter cold of winter. Like the autumn of life, the light is different, less harsh, though the bones begin to sense the coming cold, yet the warmth of the sun still caresses one's cheek.

Pumpkins in a field, the bright orange against the damp soil. The moon hanging low on the horizon, a wisp of smoke from a distant fireplace, the smells of autumn can overwhelm the senses at times.

When my maternal grandmother was in hospital after a stroke some years back, we visited her in Vermont on a lovely fall day. Though bedridden and unable to speak, the gleam in her eye when I mentioned the turning leaves made me realize - while life yet lasts, enjoy every moment.

When we left the hospital, night had fallen, it had rained while we were visiting. All around I could hear the wetness dripping from the trees, see the leaves fluttering down. I could smell the leaves which had fallen earlier in the week as they returned to the soil, an odd smell, a curious smell. Not the smell of death, but still the smell of life, a past life perhaps, lingering in the nostrils even as life draws to a close.

The violin is the perfect instrument for autumn, no long sob, but a joyful lilt. And what better poet for autumn than Robert Frost?



October by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Peace be with you...


Enjoy this, while it lasts.



44 comments:

  1. My deck and backyard are filling up fast. More than just the one at the break of day and at noon.

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    1. Poets write about leaves, they don't actually rake them.

      We're still pretty green up here in Little Rhody. Spots here and there, but it's still early for us.

      Delete
  2. I think Montebello of decayed leaves as the smell of life being renewed! I love the smell of Fall! But we are already halfway through Septober!

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  3. Stupid spell check! How can it confuse smell of, for Montebello?

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    1. Ah, the mysteries of spell checker. No one understands it, especially the people who wrote it. I always turn it off. But I must say, "the Montebello of decayed leaves" sounds very classy, very poetic.

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    2. We will serve no wine before it molds in time.

      But, yes, I thought it was an allusion to the subtle flavors and odors of a fine wine.

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    3. I was fully expecting our resident wine snob to have chimed in on that. Hmmm. He must be contemplating December 31st, or doing mission planning on your beer reserves.

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  4. Ah, the advantages of arriving late to the comments. I was all set to look up "Montebello" to see where this association with smell and old leaves came from. Check on the Badger's amortizing his college education by using those neat words learned way back when. And one I hadn't learned (the curse of an Engineering degree and insufficient classical reading). But saved by the correction!

    :)

    /
    L.J.

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    1. L.J. The Engineering college I went to used "English for Engineers" as a weedout course. Seems they actually wanted to turn out engineers that could actually articulate and write a coherent thought.

      I made "A"s in all my engrish courses. Physics and programming, well, that was the Gibbs smack on the back of the head telling me Engineering wasn't going to be my forte. Sigh. All the missed opportunities to hang with the hot chicks in the engineering department... Wait, not! (Seriously, the hottest lady in my class was... a dude. Fortunately found out before making any mistakes.)

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    2. My computer science mob back in the mid '80s had, I recall, one lady. She was attractive. As I planned on being appointed to the Supreme Court back then, it was "hands off." All the way. Of course, being married at the time tended to moderate my baser instincts.

      Most engineers need to stay as far away as possible from word processing software. It's like letting a 3 year old play with a loaded firearm. It can get ugly, quick. (My minor in college was history. We had to write, a lot.)

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    3. Well, that was after the Ex, who went to Germany and got married 2 days after she met someone, had left for Germany, and before the Worst Ex Ever (well, at least in my eyes.) So the hot girl in three of my classes was very chattable until I found out I was chatting with a not-chick, then it was just chatting for friend's sake and not for 'friendship' sake.

      And what an ego blow, to find out the hot chick isn't even interested in me, before or after. What? I am so unattractive to either side of the coin? But then again, seriously happy to have seriously 'missed' that 'opportunity.'

      But it all worked out in the end. Found Mrs. Andrew and the world became a better place.

      Funny, after the powers-that-be proved to me that STEM was not my forte, I went back to try to get a history degree. Only took 5 years to finish a 2 year degree, thus proving that college at the time was not for me. Oh well, again, at least I met Mrs. Andrew.

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    4. I firmly believe that there is someone for anyone. You just have to be patient.

      Then again, I still think Santa is real. Kinda, sorta.

      Delete
  5. I noticed that the beach sand doesn't burn my feet as much as it used to.

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    1. A sure sign that it's fall in Florida!

      ;)

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    2. That and I saw my first "O, Canada" license plate on an RV heading south... Like geese, so go the RVs.

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    3. A sure sign that winter is coming!

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    4. Way before GRRM ever writes another book.

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    5. If GRRM writes another SoFaI book (GoT to some), picture Ned Stark saying, "Hell is freezing over."

      Delete
    6. Ha, how come I see some weird lady who looks like a Star Trek cosplayer, with a nametag on her gown saying "Hello, my name is Hel."

      Musta took my weird pills this evening.

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    7. "I noticed that the beach sand doesn't burn my feet..."

      BASTARD!

      Delete
  6. I like the cooler nights. On a practical note, getting towards the end of fire season. Bring on a snowstorm!

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    1. True! I'm betting there is fresh snow up on the peaks.

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  7. Well I think in my AO I just guaranteed a weak snowfall total for the season, ordered a new Ariens 24 snow blower....there's been a few changes in snow moving tech since 1996, the last time I purchased a new thrower.

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    1. Oh yeah Nylon12, you've prevented a major snowfall. Your neighbors should all chip in on the cost. ;)

      Delete
    2. Buying our first snowthrower 25 or 30 years ago gave us three snow free winters in a row.
      Replaced it with a new 24" Husqvarna two years ago and used it once or twice in the first year.
      I might now have gotten the magic anti-snow incantations just right.

      Now that my wife is also retired, we can both stand at the window and watch the snow come down.

      Delete
    3. Sigh. Please read the word "now" in the magic sentence as "not."

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    4. The snow thrower magic, only northerners understand.

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    5. I am oft betrayed by my keyboard. Insidious bastiges, replacing the intended word with another!

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  8. How all together lovely.
    Warm and sunny here in North Central WA. Slanted sun, rich colors, so pleasant while it lasts.

    BTW...I stole your corn from last year for the 1st day of Autumn. I shall now proceed to lift
    Mr. Frost from you for next Monday.
    - Sticky Fingers BC

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    1. Please do. I love seeing my photos pop up here and there.

      Thanks BC!

      Delete
  9. Well, I like fall and, yes, "the Montebello smell", although we haven't gotten too much of that here in W MI just yet. And I definitely do not want snow yet!!! Nope, Nope, Nope. Hey, we haven't even finished with the construction season yet...of course part of that is because the engineers and the construction unions are arguing, or maybe it is not talking to each other...all I know is the stupid orange barrels are STILL up all over the place...pick your favorite main highway, or secondary road, or little side street...they are all decorated with orange and have been since the 1st of April. The plow guys had to plow around them as we continued to have snow til the end of April. Unless it is a pumpkin on a front porch step, I do not want to see any more orange, or a one-lane-ahead-flagger sign...Sigh! Climbing off the rant box now...

    Our maple trees are just beginning to change, just at the tops. It is so pretty, like a kid is splashing around red, orange, and yellow paint.

    Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. I especially like "Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening". It always reminds me of where I grew up, which wasn't far from the border of VT. The pines, and woods, with snow falling gently down...

    But I am good with waiting until the end of October for any of that to start. So, yes, I like fall. And we don't have any leaves here to rake here. Yea!!

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    1. Ah, that poem is very much a favorite!

      Heh, road pumpkins. We here in Little Rhody also have many shrines to Our Lady of Perpetual Construction.

      Mid-September to mid-October, or Septober a Scott the Badger calls it, is one of my favorite times of year.

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    2. I have driven, frequently in your Little Rhody, quite familiar with Providence as my dad's side of the family started out in Westerly, and wound up around Rehoboth/Dighton. So to go visit my cousins, who are closer in age to me than my sisters, I go through Providence. And, yes, the Jersey barriers and barrels are very common there also.
      The political types (ugh!) have been beating the drums that the roads are horrible here in W MI. Guess they haven't driven in eastern MA, or in Little Rhody, or, especially in Joursey...although to be fair, the eastern MI around Detroit roads are pretty wash-boardy...course the last time the taxes were raised to "fix the roads" the money wound up lining the pockets of the pols in Detroit.

      I liked Scott the Badger's calendar naming :)

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    3. The Mt Hope Bridge between Bristol and Portsmouth is under constant maintenance.

      Also the old standby, pave a road, then two months later dig it up to put down a new sewage system.

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  10. Definitely Fall here! The crab apple has dropped all the "fruit" it makes, and now the leaves are starting to turn and drop.

    Had to put on a jacket the other night when I was out in the garage.

    Neighbor across the street got a huge load of firewood dumped in his front yard today and it was nice to see he and the kids out moving it to the back and sweeping up the mess it left.

    And I can smell the fireplaces at night getting woke up after a summer slumber.

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    1. Fall in Colorado is gorgeous, I remember it well!

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