SUBTLE SIGNS

There it was. The signs were slight, but they were there. It started about a week ago or so with the tree down the block.  That maple turns red and the leaves start falling before most of the other trees are half done. The leaves were turning red on that tree, dropping lazily to the ground as if taunting and teasing me daily of what was to come. I saw the home owner raking them to the curb. I sighed and felt a sense of contentment and warmth mixed with a hint of sorrow to see summer pass the baton to fall.  I do though love fall. I saw it running one evening after work - low heavy grayish clouds and sky indicative of fall in the Midwest. They remind me a big quilt that wants to settle over the earth bringing with it cooler temps but causing us to turn to our houses for warmth and comfort. You might be familiar with how I feel about fall from a post called 'November Sky" in November 2010. I saw it this morning driving to work - the corn in the fields was drying out, turning from summer green to crunchy pale cream stalks. I chuckled to my husband as we walked the other evening after seeing a v-formation of geese flying south, "Do they know something we don't!" I have watched the squirrels with great curiosity as their impetuous behavior has ratcheted up in intensity making me feel like I need to stockpile groceries, get all my outside projects buttoned up and buy that snow blower that I put off buying every year. Does nature somehow know when fall fades to winter?  Does God let His world of creation in on the secret that only He knows? The air even smells different - a coolness, a changing of the guard. The cool nights make great sleeping weather but highlight once again the growing difference between daylight and nighttime temperatures. The hostas and tall ornamental grass have begun to look like they are tired and are preparing for a long slumber buried under snow. My craving for homemade soup has increased ten-fold, my hankering for watermelon has all but gone, and the desire to create baked goods that warm the kitchen and fill the air with their aroma has begun. There will be days of late Indian summer warmth, but they will now be peppered in among the ever cooling days of fall. The light is fading. Mornings stay dark later and the sun slips away much to early now. It's hard to know how to transition your clothes during this intermediate weather period. So, sometimes shorts and a sweatshirt are the clothes of choice which shows clearly my desire to not want to totally let go of summer! I ran this past week for the first time in 4 or 5 months in a short sleeve shirt and not a tank top. Fall is here. Candy corn is gracing the shelves and pumpkins for sale line the area farm houses. Instead of trying to figure out how to wear less and be age appropriate in 90 degree temps, I am now looking for my .99 cent Target gloves and sitting in front of the open oven door to get warm (you don't turn the furnace on till absolutely necessary!). My winter boots still sit unused in the hall closet waiting for the first snowfall. The snow shovel is waiting for what it was designed for - snow, instead of me using it as a huge dustpan after sweeping the sidewalks post mowing. I looked for an extra furnace filter so to be ready for firing up the furnace for the first time. And, I wondered if either of the cars needed new tires for winter. I made a pumpkin pie last night from a pumpkin my parents grew in their garden. As I sat on my stool in the kitchen with the oven on and the door open, putting a warm bite of pie in my mouth, I thought about what each season brings.  Each season brings something different, has a unique feel, conjures up different emotions, causes a shift in thoughts and activities, creating a sort of new or renewed routine.  That can be a great thing.  Change is good right.  Movement makes us alive.  Even if it moves us toward winter:)