Autumn: A Time For the Senses

Fall Leaves

"What does Fall mean to you?"  I asked some folks in my family this, and was surprised at how vivid their answers were.  Fall is a sensual time of year.  We are assaulted with colors, smells, sounds, and a feeling deep inside that doesn’t happen any other time of year.  It's a mixture of excitement, relief, and satisfaction for a Summer well-lived.

“Fall means a sea of oranges, reds and yellows with the crunch of leaves and pine needles under your feet. It means the smell of crisp fresh air with hints of cinnamon, apple and pumpkin.”  - Ashley, daughter and best friend. 

"Rabbit season, Brunswick stew... raking leaves and jumping in 'em... Grapes and apples getting ripe" - Mike, brother and fellow storyteller.

"Putting away things outside for the winter... Fall Festivals... Leaf collecting.... Gathering nuts in the woods with Granddaddy"  - Joan, sister and "partner in crime". 

Hay Bales

Fall seems to tap us on the shoulder, and beg our attention from the busy life that Summer often brings.  The leaves start changing colors, dogwoods first, then the other trees follow suit.  Annual fairs and fall festivals start popping up everywhere.  The air starts to smell different somehow... even if it’s still the dog days of August, and sweltering hot outside.  The last of the harvests are being brought in… pumpkins begin to appear on doorsteps and porches.  Bales of hay can be seen laying in fields that were once big meadows of grass waving in the breeze  Field corn turns a crispy looking brown ready for harvest.  Okra stalks are long and lanky by this time, with just a tuft of leaves up on the tip top.  Mums start blooming, and pots of them start appearing on porches and steps... dotting the countryside with their yellows and pinks and whites.  Soon, pumpkins will join them as bright greetings and Fall decor.  All signs that the weather is starting to change, that the trees are starting to tuck in for the winter, and that folks need to basically wrap things up from summer’s busy-ness. 

Garden Wagon with Leaves

Gardeners hear the whisper of Fall through the last blazing days of Summer heat, and begin to tuck their gardens in for the winter... pulling up tomato cages and stakes, plowing the last of the plants under the ground, sometimes seeding the entire patch with clover for the nutrition it will bring the ground in the Spring.  Potted plants and flowers outside on the porches and decks start to lose their luster.  Soon their spent dry husks will be pulled up, tossed on a compost heap, and the pots put away for a Spring sure to come.  It’s a time of tidying up the outside, putting things away, and getting ready for the snows on Winter whispered on the wind. 

Mums Begin to Appear...

It all starts with Labor Day... a celebration of work itself.  Originally started by a union leader and his brother in the late 1800’s to celebrate the American worker, Labor Day has come to mean much more than that to us nowadays.  It’s the last hurrah of summer, time to slip in one more vacation before school starts for the kids in the Fall.  It’s the time when gardeners and farmers start thinking about what still needs to be done before the winter months set in... gathering in the last of the harvests, baling the last fields of hay, and preparing gardens for the winter months. 

Growing up, it was the time when we typically took one more vacation.  We camped for our vacations back in those days, and usually went to Kerr Lake for one more week of fun and fellowship with the same group of folks that we vacationed with every year (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents).  We eventually started calling our camping group The Gully Campers because the camping area we used was on a hill, and when it rained (which it seemed to do every time we were there, at least for a day or so), the hillside would wash out with huge gullies where the water ran down off the hill.  Motor boats, canoes, and big tractor tire inner-tubes provided water sport.  There was at least one campfire to sit around every night, several hammocks that could be lounged in for an afternoon nap, and a volleyball tournament sometime during the week.  It was always a great time of laughter, fun and good eats.  Nowadays, though... we typically just stay home, cook some hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill, and enjoy the company of family and friends.

Maple Tree in the Fall

After Labor Day was over, it was time to think about school.  New clothes and shoes were needed for growing kids whose clothes and shoes from last year were either worn out or too little... new school supplies were bought (pencils, pens, paper, notebooks)... desks that had been piled high with toys, coloring books, and broken crayons during the summer were cleared off to get ready for the nightly drill of homework and studying.  It was also the time of year when every housewife knew she had to swap out her clothes, putting summer dresses and shoes away, and getting out the fall/winter clothing.  You see, you never ever ever wore white (especially white shoes) after Labor Day.... nor before Easter.

It was also the time of year to start thinking of Memorial Day (Homecoming Day) at the church which always occurred later into September.  The last of the flowers in the flower gardens were cut and arranged in vases of all sizes and shapes.  Everyone put flowers on all the graves of their ancestors, flags were put on the graves of all the veterans in the graveyard, and lots of food was cooked and brought to the church that day for a huge cover-dished meal after the service.  Friends and family that had moved away from the community often came back for this one special day at the church.  During the service, memorials are read for each person that died during the past year, honoring them one more time with a candle lit in their name as their memorial is read.  The sanctuary was often standing-room-only on Memorial Day, and the meal was like no other, for the volume of food involved.  It was a time of visiting with relatives you seldom got to see, seeing people that came from far away just to be here for that one special day.  It was always one of my favorite days at church, and one which still occurs each year.

Dogwood Leaves Start Changing First

Cooler days start to creep into the warmth of summer.  Before you know it, you wake up one morning to frost covering yards, bushes and flowerbeds.  Leaves start to drift off the trees, covering the yard in a blanket of reds and golds and browns.  Now’s the time to break out the rakes and yardbrooms and start raking the leaves.  When we were kids, that meant it was time to play in the piles of leaves that our parents and grandparents had labored so hard to make, but to us it was a wonderful place to bury ourselves in, run and jump into, and scatter as we plowed our feet and legs through them, kicking the leaves up into the air.  Big white sheets, that were well past their usefulness as bed sheets, were laid on the ground to rake the leaves into.  Those were then carried over to one of the fields and burned.  Nowadays, we have one of those fancy mowers with the vacuum on the back that sucks up all the leaves and puts them into a trailer behind the mower that then becomes a dump bed when it’s time to empty it out.  Not nearly as much fun as running and jumping into the big piles of leaves... but much easier now that we’re all getting on in years. 

Fall Fills the Shelves

Stores nowadays practically assault you with the smell of pumpkin and cinnamon whenever you enter... everything has a pumpkin pie flavor option, from cereal to coffee to cookies and muffins.  The fall colors are everywhere.  Burlap replaces the silks and cottons of summer.  Grapevines that were shaped into wreaths and other fun shapes last Fall when they were trimmed off the main vines are now dry and ready to use.  The smells that I love the best aren’t in a store, though.  They are outside, created by nature itself… the smell of the falling leaves as the trees start to shed them... the scent of fresh fallen pine needles... the smell of hay as it’s being cut and baled for the winter... the smell of the fresh turned dirt in the garden as it’s prepared for winter... and the smell of fresh made apple pies from this year’s harvest.  Pumpkin pie smells great too, but it’s the apple pie, with the cinnamon, that really smells like Fall to me. 

As the weather starts to slowly change from the blazing hot/humid days of summer, to the welcoming cooler days of Fall, we often find ourselves thinking of snuggling in a blanket with a hot cup of cocoa, building fires in the fireplace, and sweaters waiting to be worn.  We begin to wonder when “peak season” in the mountains will be this year, and think about planning a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the beauty of a sea of color along the mountainsides. 

Grandfather Mtn. - Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

Of all the seasons, Fall puts on the grandest show.  Spring has its beauty with the growth of new things, green sprouting everywhere, flowers blooming, birds returning, and bees and butterflies all around.  But Fall sends us the signal that it’s time to rest, watch the beauty of the changing leaves, smell the warm smells of home, and surround ourselves with family, and friends.  “It’s time to rest,” says Fall... “Come, let me show you something wonderful!”

There’s something about the march of the four seasons that make life seem more interesting somehow.  Each season brings its blessing, each it’s special “something” to be cherished... and as we flow through those seasons, it gives us milestones and waypoints on which to plot our lives as we look back over the years. 

Enjoy your Fall!  May it bring you blessings and cherished moments! 

“Fall means watching the world outside change through the window with a hot cup of coffee on a chilly morning…  Fall means the cold is coming and you start warming your soul by surrounding yourself with friends and family.”  - Ashley