I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the calendar is reading October 1st. It hasn’t been our usual summer or fall .. that’s for sure. Cold and dreary for much of July and August, thankfully September stepped in to save the year and our sanity. Summer in September, who would have thought.
Secretly I think a part of me is still yearning for our summer-that-wasn’t, but too bad, so sad. Reality, in the form of Jack Frost, has come a knockin’.
In the space of a week my garden has gone from finally displaying red tomatoes to once more being a patch of turned earth. Too quick for this old girl to take it in I suspect.
All that aside, with the cooler days and depleted number of mosquitoes , the dogs and I have had some glorious walks out back in the field behind our house. Much of the prairie grass is starting to show fall colours… rich waves of red and yellow.
I have always believed that the trees and the geese… they know… and that seems to have remained true even during this upside-down year. The leaves on most trees have held on to their green, and the geese, although seen practicing their V formations, have yet to fill our sky.
But last night I heard more than saw them. The night sky was alive with their waves of leave-taking calls. I knew the time had come.
The sight and sound of the geese gathering and flying over head is bitter sweet. Their honking in the distance and then the whoosh-whoosh sound of their wings as they pass directly overhead leaves me feeling small and in awe. I sometimes feel that it is the prairie equivalent of standing by the ocean… imparting that same sense of wonder.
As much as I wish it wasn’t so, October seems to have arrived. Time to let all summer thoughts go and get with the program. Now if only I could remember where I tucked away that box of sweaters.
We’re into autumn here – a few trees have changed. Your Canada geese often stop here in Pennsylvania, and go no further. We have so many geese here in Bucks County.
They are beautiful. But messy.
October, it is.
The garden’s done, we’ve already had our first brush with winter last week. No snow, but was close enough. Tonight, tomorrow night – freeze warning.
The upside, more hot cocoa and a cat (or two, or three, or four) on the lap.
Fall has arried in Victoria as well. Here it means clouds/rain/wind.Turned the heat on yesturday for the 1st time. Any sunny/warm day now is a gift, not to be taken for granted.
It was cold playing golf today and the geese here in Pennsylvania are restless as if they know they should be moving on but want to stay.
So many of our winter clothes were stored at my mother’s house and I just bagged them up with her clothes and donated them to charity so I am going to treat myself to a couple of warm sweaters. Why only a couple? Because I firmly intend to be in Arizona this winter.
Another haunting post, by the way.
Colleen I love how you capture the feeling of the seasons when you write. I looked out my back window & noticed my morning glory had been hit hard by frost. But in the front yard the geraniums are happily blooming away. So I’ve cleaned up the garden but just don’t have the heart to pull the geraniums. They’ll be the last flowers I see in the yard for a long time. At the lake I do have lots of sunflowers. I’m leaving them for the birds to feed overwinter. 2 weeks after you see the 1st Junco bird it’s suppose to snow! Hope not too soon!
Whats a “Junco” bird??
Hi Dia, The Dark-eyed Junco is a medium-sized sparrow with a rounded head, a short, stout bill and a fairly long, conspicuous tail. Here is a picture of a dark eyed female “Oregon” Junco (type of Dark-eyed Junco). I took this in my back yard last year.
Florida had some cool air on Tuesday, and then I read that it was back to the heat and humidity on Wednesday. Fall will come sometime.
I, however, am in Virginia where the skies are clear blue, some of the trees are beginning to change color, and I am enjoying fresh and cooler air. Of course, the reason I’m here it to be with the ever enchanting Ella, but I’ll take the perks of fall.
I’m driving up to the Finger Lakes area of New York on Monday. I’m sure I’ll see more of fall there and colder weather. I won’t complain.
I wonder how many millions of the Canada Goose there are? They’re hardly an endangered species, eh? Anyway, when they get that V thing going, it’s a great sight.
Within two days we went from a daytime high of 100 degrees to a nighttime low of 50. So I guess autumn has come to our part of California. We are back into the 80s today, but the feeling of fall hangs over us. I guess your geese are heading our way. We will treat them well.
Sounds like some melancholy in that observation… guess it’s hard to let go of the warm weather when you know what’s to follow.
The Canadas are stirring around here, too. Maybe they’re going south and making way for the Canadian Canadas.
It has even cooled down here… nights into the 50′s. The Canada geese live here year round but populations swell in winter. I think they are already staking out their ponds and gathering places. Our building project is done, except for my part… the landscaping. I am working on it, but the flowerbeds expanded from the original design. Who knew it would require so many bags of topsoil and garden soil and compost and such?
I know it is so hard to believe. It seems just yesterday I put those dreadful winter things away! But I love the colors and smells of October here. If only the cold wouldn’t follow!
While the onset of fall is certainly far more pronounced, and much earlier, for you than it is here in Pennsylvania, most of what you describe can be found outside my back door as well. The honey locusts have turned golden early this year, and today’s high winds have stripped them almost bare. Always one to look for a positive in a negative – and the end of the warm months is a BIG negative on several fronts – I thoroughly enjoy the cool, breezy evenings outside with my dogs and my laptop. Clear skies, a chill in the air and red sunset followed by a black sky full of stars… there’s little as invigorating or inspiring – or as peaceful – as these.