Autumn's Arrival ... Sort of!

Oh, it's that time of year again! I always wistfully imagine myself up north this time of year to take in the spectacular foliage in my home state of Maine! There is NOTHING in the world like the smells, sites, and sounds associated with the Autumn Equinox and Fall in New England.

From the crisp, chilled air that signals one to prepare for the coming of Winter even as the sun still hangs high in the sky, to the smells of cinnamon, MacIntosh apples, and pumpkin pie; Fall in New England is and has always been my favorite time of the year, with Halloween being my very favorite Fall holiday, and Thanksgiving coming in a close second!

Every Autumn, I connect with MaineFoliage to peruse the photographs and for information related to Fall, in an attempt to allow my senses to soar and my imagination to kick into high gear! Oh, how I love Fall ... so when I choose to live up in Maine for 6 months out of every year, the months I choose to be there will be May-October. Those are the best times of the year to live in New England, in my personal opinion. Late Spring through Early Fall ... perfect!

Some of the sounds, sights, and smells that crack my memory banks and bring me back to childhood instantaneously are the sounds of dry leaves and twigs snapping under my feet whilst strolling in the woods, the pungent scent of burning leaves, the sweet scent of apples, and the heady scents of cinnamon and cloves, the brightly colored horizon, painted in hues of crimson, burnt orange, and the deepest and most rich golds ever known to humankind. How I miss Autumn in New England ...

When I was a kid, I was always attempting to preserve the colors of the leaves by either collecting them and ironing them in between waxed paper, which actually worked quite well, I might add; to pressing them between the pages of a heavy book. (Usually, the leaves ended up drying to a crisp brown and crumbling into a mess when I would retrieve them, eventually) But the ones I ironed between two sheets of waxed paper usually stayed their color. I wonder what happened to all those ironed leaves ...

And the pumpkins! We would go out with our parents and hunt down the best pumpkins, in graduated sizes ... 5 of them, when it was only 5 of us siblings ... and Dad would carve 5 different faces into each of them very carefully, and set them outside with Christmas lights inside them. Five Jack O'Lanterns lined up in graduated sizes from largest to smallest, to represent each of us kids, from oldest to youngest. That was always exciting ... and one year it warranted a photograph in the local section of the Morning Sentinel! Dad was pretty creative and quite talented, I might add, a legacy he left all 7 of his children with his early demise ...

Today, as I daydream about being in my home state, soaking up the sounds, sights, and smells of Autumn, I will sip a cup of hot apple cider brewed effortlessly through a Keurig. It's not even close to REAL Maine apple cider, but it's a decent facsimile, I suppose. And perhaps I'll burn a cinnamon & clove soy candle, which I actually purchased in Maine when I was up there in early September. THAT will help me reminisce ... sort of. Until I step outside my front door into the blanket of thick, humidity and 80+ heat, that is! 

Nothing wrong with daydreaming, then ...

*All photographs property of MaineFoliage.com

Autumn Thoughts

It's Autumn again here in Southern Florida. The weather changes are extremely subtle when the seasons change here, unfortunately. There has been a shift in the humidity and in the heat index. Noticeable, if one is perceptive enough. It's nothing as spectacular as it is up in the northeast. I miss New England most at this time of year. If I were to live in the best of both worlds, it would be in Maine from June through November and in Florida from December through May. How spectacular would that be? The best of both worlds, indeed!


The sounds, sights, and smells of my childhood have come to pay homage in my mind this day: the sounds of crunching leaves underfoot as I trudge on forest paths in early Fall; the smell of the crisp, cool air and the feel of the warm, Autumn sun on my skin. The sun is always warm in early Autumn ... not hot and blinding as it is in Summer, but warm and soft and subdued. The air is usually crisp, but as the day progresses the sun's rays heat the air a little, yet there is a consistent sharpness in it to remind us all that Winter is rapping insistently on Earth's door.


Today, I had an epiphany about my Self and my Life, as I've had in the past many times.Today, I am reminded that Time has quickly passed through the Spring and Summer of my years. We can not harness Time, nor can we tame it or slow it down. Time has a mind of its own and travels where it will, when it will. We are simply pawns in Time's power and grasp ... and in accepting Time as it is, it becomes less an enemy and more like an old friend.


I am stepping boldly into the next season of my Lifetime. I am entering the Autumn of my Lifetime, leaving the Summer behind quietly, with many smiles and tears, and with grace and gratefulness. It is time for a new Season to begin ... a new chapter, a new epic to be written. And it is coming at the very moment that Autumn paints the canvas of Nature in New England. Autumn in Nature and Autumn in my Lifetime are intertwining and the blessings will be many. I am sure of it!


Namaste, my friends ...