The Book of Me - My Favourite Season

Autumn!  It's autumn I look forward to all year.  It is the breath of fresh air after months of miserable heat and humidity.  It is a bright season after the dry, dead grasses at the end of summer.  It is a season of light, and hope, and joy.  Autumn is exquisite.

There are so many reasons to love autumn:
● its warm, golden glow
● crisp, frosty mornings
● acorns, buckeyes, seedpods; gourds and Indian corn
● fresh-picked, crisp apples
● pumpkin pie
● the rich, heady fragrance of fallen leaves
● the bluest of blue skies
● cool, grey, rainy days
● the sun rising later each morning
● bright leaves in reds, oranges, yellows, burgundies
● walking in the fallen leaves, crunching and kicking
● shorter days with the angle of the sun's rays lower in the sky
● wool sweaters, because it's finally cool enough to wear them
● the beautiful browns, greys, tans, and rust colors of trees and brambles at fall's end

I grew up in a small community at a time when people raked the dead leaves into piles and burned them.  My mother usually began raking while I was at school.  Walking home I could smell the burning leaves, usually not just from my mom's pile but from others doing the same thing.  It was a delicious smell and one that I still enjoy.  The smoke and odor were very unwelcome when one had clothes hanging out to dry, though.  It seemed like the neighbors usually cared for each other and did not burn clothes when someone else's laundry was on a clothesline.  The generally safe days to burn were Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday because laundry was done on Mondays and Thursdays.

An even earlier memory of autumn is from the time I was a toddler, still sleeping in a crib.  I didn't know it was autumn at the time but remembering the light, the house doors closed to the outside chill, the warmth in our home, it was most certainly that most beautiful of all seasons.  I remember coming downstairs to the living room after an afternoon nap with the golden sunshine coming through the west-facing window.  It was late afternoon with the sun low in the sky, yet it was still a while till suppertime.  It's a very cozy memory.  Isn't it strange how we can remember only a moment and the atmosphere that surrounded it and not remember other details?

School starts in the fall.  Even as a child I loved paper -- in stacks, in tablets, in books, in all its forms -- and when school started, there was more of it.  I loved school supplies and finding the perfect cardboard box to hold crayons and pencils.  Even now, I can open a new box of crayons, take a whiff, and be whisked back to the first days of elementary school.  I loved reading and school desks, the walk to school, being with friends -- and it all happened in the fall! 

While in college I discovered Golden Autumn, a cologne by Prince Matchabelli.  I could not now describe its fragrance but if its scent wafted through a room I would recognize it.  If autumn could be captured in a fragrance, Golden Autumn would be that fragrance.

I'm enjoy this year's first first few days of autumn.  The leaves have just begun to turn, the days have been warm, the evenings crisp and cool enough for a blanket.  Yet to come are the brightest days of fall after the leaves have turned.  I think autumn has always been my favorite season and I think it always will be.

This is another post in The Book of Me series, created by Julie Goucher of Anglers Rest.

The photo at the top of this post was taken by Amy V. Miller and was graciously made available by her at Flickr via PhotoPin.  As beautiful as the photo is, it can only be a gentle reminder of autumn.  I don't think any photo can truly capture autumn's beauty.

--Nancy.
.