Thoughtful Thursday: Autumn's Glory
"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons." – Jim Bishop
As a retired educator, autumn is my spring. Fall brought new students, new classes, new hopes and new dreams. Businesses understand this with many closing out their past and launching their new fiscal year in the fall. Even elections are held in the fall. Fall celebrates summer’s harvest with hayrides and corn mazes culminating in homecomings and Thanksgiving. And the best thing about fall is the autumnal time change: “fall back” means an extra hour of sleep! I internalized nature’s timeclock set to fall beginnings; a new schedule prompts my body-clock to readjust as our days grow shorter. As summer’s abbreviated nights slip into longer periods of darkness, we grant ourselves permission to relax, unwind and even get ready for bed a little bit earlier…after all it is already dark outside.
This week we hauled out the fall decorations: cinnamon scented candles, pine cone centerpieces and pumpkins in every shape, size and color. A visit to our local vendors filled our front porch with mums and October’s favorite gourds. Afghans and wool throws are draped over chairs and resting on couches, having found their new home for the next six months. Simmering spices of nutmeg, cloves and ginger send an olfactory message that autumn has arrived. Our drawers are emptied of shorts and bathing suits, replaced by turtlenecks, sweaters and socks. Yardwork includes one last manicure, discarding the annuals, planting spring bulbs and mulching the beds as protection against winter. A pot of soup simmers on the stove and ovens are filled with brown sugar-laced concoctions. All wait with anticipation the baptism of the fireplace as nothing says fall like that first fire.
Kinesthetic folks know that Autumn October is a dance; leaves fluttering, swirling and rising with the winds. Auditory friends know that Autumn is music; winds whistling through trees stripped of their foliage, geese honking and rustling leaves. Visual people know that Autumn is color, vibrant and rich burgundies, oranges, yellows and browns. Yet, Gold is the color of the season: burnishing our trees, glazing the skies and filling our larders. Gourds and squashes, bubbling pots of cinnamon-laced apple sauce, fields of chrysanthemums and golden sunsets.
While artists find beauty in every season, the fall is special as it comes with its own Crayola box of colors. Bathed in seasonal jewel tones and dripping with gold highlights; scenes so familiar are transformed during Fall’s brief window of enchantment. A tree in its summer greenery may assume anonymity when surrounded by its brethren yet defines itself as majestic in autumn when crowned with gilded foliage of wine-red, amber and amethyst. Autumn displayed on canvas is a perfect gift to enjoy nature’s wonders the other nine months of the year! To see more of Autumn’s glory, visit Les Poissons Gallery in Chestertown or online at www.Lespoissonsgallery.com .