To Autumn O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d with the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance! Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. “The narrow bud opens her beauties to The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins; Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve, Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing, And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head. “The spirits of the air live in the smells Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.” Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat, Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load. William Blake            
Autumn is my favorite time of the year. With the start of school, start many children's crazy sports and activities. Mothers trade in their floppy straw-brimmed hats and sunscreen for their daily agendas. Juggling once again becomes an art and a science as we figure out who has to be where and at what time and how it will be physically possibly to pick up two children at the same time from two entirely different locations. We see time constraints in the morning as we rush to school and again in the evening as we rush to get dinner on the table, and homework done and kids settled into bed. While the pace quickens to a mad-dash something just short of a fury, the season allows me stop dead in my tracks... to take in all this newness... the new wonder all around as my eyes dance with the fiery colors of the foliage beyond.
The crisp new morning air refreshes my body and soul. The air smells fresh with crisp falling leaves that go crunch underfoot. The days shorten allowing us to return home earlier. We bid adieu to the long, lazy, hazy days of summer but we welcome autumn's cooler temperatures. We'll pull out our sweaters... We'll light our fireplaces indoors, and our fire-pits as we are not ready to bit adieu to the outdoors. Summer cocktails make way for heartier beverages, stoutier beers, darker, fuller bodied wines, Sangrias made with autumn fruits, mulled ciders and wine.
Soon the skies will darken and we will come indoors, wrap ourselves around a cozy, warm blanket, read a good book, cook a hearty stew, bake some soul-soothing apple pie. We'll pick apples and carve pumpkins with our children. We'll go on hayrides and perhaps build scarecrows to place by our front doorways. The chill in the air brings out a playfulness, a feistiness in us all... we'll get lost in a corn maze, jump into piles of leaves... We'll relish in the newness of autumn!
What are you most looking forward to this fall?
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