Autumnal Musings

This morning, autumn started her foray into the world where I live.  The air was crisp, the sky overcast, and a breeze flirted with my summer skirt.  I have mixed emotions with the changing of the seasons.  I look forward to the days where rain and fallen leaves mix in the gutter, causing enormous puddles of water, calling to my children and the nights where chili and homemade bread are on the menu. I also see the ending of summer’s carefree and lawless antics.  Of course, the structure is a bane and a blessing to my existence, hence my mixed emotions.

The sky has become more and more dark, and I can hear the thunder in the distance over my soft Norah Jones playing in the background.  It’s an appropriate choice for such a mellow, rainy day.  The clouds are reminiscent of a charcoal colored pair of trousers I once wore.  They were soft and comfortable, and so I tend to look at the storm that way….as long as I’m inside.

I enjoy the days where a cozy sweater and argyle socks, worn with penny loafers, are the uniform I prefer.  Yes, you can tell my age from that statement, but none the less, I still dream of the chic cable knits of my youth.  Now I look forward to days when a good book, sits open on my lap, as the rain pelts the glass of my sliding glass door and the blanket I’ve had since I was just a little girl covers my legs.  The smell of a heater, long dormant, roaring to life, with its mustiness blowing into the room, brings a smile to my face.  Fall is coming and she is making her presence known on so many levels.

There are times when I like to watch the storm fronts move across the valley, where a little to the north, there is a patch of blue, while to the south, the sky is an inky black, with an eerie light.  I love the smell of rain, as it hits the dry dust of summer, almost washing it away and into the new season.  If I’m lucky, a lightening show will streak across the black, almost as if it is trying to capture the essence of the world in a picture with its flash.  For a brief moment, all is illuminated, the good and the bad, and then, darkness quickly overcomes, shielding what, for a split second was stark reality.

I enjoy the feeling of tights on my bare legs, nicely opaque, covering a multitude of sins as well as the black boots, coming out of the abyss known as my closet, to see the light after the hiatus of summer.  Apple cider, glazed doughnuts, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, seem to only herald the return of autumn with a finality that trick or treat candy and aisles of Halloween costumes can’t.  A trip up the canyon turns into an explosion of color.  A vibrant show of nature’s way with a paintbrush greets the senses, and I welcome her with open arms and open heart.

What are your favorite things about autumn?
*Thanks to Google for the image....*