Friday, November 6, 2009

Golden leaves and Golden Memories

Fall is one of my favorite seasons.  The weather cools down, and I can turn off the AC and open the windows at night.  There is an energy and a rebirth of vitality..in the way the animals play in the morning crispness, and in Texas there is the second blooming of the roses.

Although I truly enjoy living in Houston now, I can not help but miss this golden time up north..I always loved fall in Dakota, even though it can be the shortest season in history!  Some years there would only be a few precious weeks between the heat of summer and the first snow flakes of winter.  Once in a blue moon, we would actually have an Indian summer...warm weather returning for a while after a sudden first frost.

There was a tang and enthusiasm in the air....fallen leaves, the return of migrating Canadian Geese....even as the days shortened, requiring the donning of jackets, the resulting rosy cheeks from cooler breezes....and the lurking knowledge that winter at its fiercest and finest was only a few short weeks away.

There is a golden glow to my autumnal memories.  I remember the honking of the geese as the myriad V formations would spiral to land on the lakes and sloughs near my farm.  The satisfaction of harvesting the best apples in the county from the large, old, apple tree out front we lovingly called Grandma.. Fall was an interlude of time and space  from which we reorganized our lives and property to be ready for the onslaught of another brutal winter.  We walked fences, tended livestock, brought hay bales home and stocked the barns. We had pie socials, harvest festivals, and community get togethers.

We relished each golden day...knowing how long it would be until another such day would bless us.

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