It's The Season!
Fall, the special season of the year.
In the Rocky Mountains we have two long seasons, summer and winter, and we have two short seasons, spring and fall. Of the four seasons, fall is the special one. Spring leads to the heat of summer. While we look forward to the transition from winter to spring, we do not look forward to the transition from fall to winter. Thus fall is our special season.
Fall brings with it the cooling from summer's heat, and we cherish those cooler days that still have warmth for outdoor activities before the days of winter we know are coming.
Fall is gift wrapped with the colorful wrappings of this short season when the trees take back some nutrients from their leaves, and then carpet the still green grass with a floral print that seems to outdo the blossoms of spring.
The clouds at altitude seem whiter and brighter with their own varied patterns which are not the threatenings of summer, nor the dull rain clouds of spring. It will be soon enough that they lower and drop their loads of snow and ice from gray, leaden clouds that cotton the ridgelines and descend to the valleys announcing winter.
Fall has its uncut fields of bleaching corn stalks and uncovered pumpkins, its apple orchards and fruit stands, its jack-o-lanterns and lonely scarecrows surveying re-plowed fields inhabited by migrating birds, ducks, and geese gleaning leftovers on their way south.
Toasting marshmallows becomes a competitive sport of crusting and re-crusting as many as three times each, while running to catch a football doesn't require a follow up shower.
The cadenced bounces of basketballs in the driveway mix with the cracks of bats inside as the menfolk and some of the sports-minded gals settle in with chips and dips to see which baseball team is crowned the year's champion.
The discussions of referees' calls in favorite college games strive for consensus win or lose, and early hopes fade or glow on the fortunes of a series of Saturdays in the fall, while athletic cheerleaders boost the flow in alumni veins as familiar themes echo from student bands of the faithful.
The bow and rifle hunting seasons see permit winners tramping the fields and paths of autumn, reenacting survival treks of years past, and a few neighbors' cars and trucks boast new hood ornaments of once exciting sightings.
One of the "Biggest Bucks In Maine"
When the fall parade of ghosts and goblins, cartoon characters,princesses, and politician look-alikes has been tricked and treated, fall settles in to the few remaining and cherished days with their smell of burning leaves and chimney smoke.
These are the days of Thanksgiving when available family gather around, when memories are recounted, and new participants are welcomed. Then, when the leftovers meals of sandwiches and soups, pies and cookies give way to standard fare, the V formations of honking, migrating geese seem to draw a comforter over the fall scene and we give an extra thanks for this precious season called fall.
A moment of shared thanksgiving.
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© 20125 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.
