Autumn Cometh

The change of season slowly advances until one day it becomes a feeling. The air is drier. The evening temperature dips. I feel invigorated by a sense of anticipation – but for what I do not specifically recognize. My mind seems clearer, maybe a better word would be crisper, like the air.

First one tiny leaf turns to crimson, then another until the autumn colors over take the landscape. The sky appears bigger, perhaps because it now often accommodates impressive, billowing clouds. This is my favorite season, and it is slowly insisting summer to slumber.

Mostly, the world is still green, but many of the grasses are changing – proudly displaying their seeds on long shafts that flow in the breeze. Grasshoppers have made an entrance, and butterflies are taking advantage of the last stands of nectar and mating to fulfill the destiny of their species. Avian songs have been replaced by the intense buzzing of insects which are pressing to accomplish their annual mission in a few short weeks before they are gone again. And birds, now successful in raising a brood or two, are fueling up for a long migration, or a winter spent here when resources will be sparse. Bluejays caw. Large Crows begin to congregate and vocalize their presence. These sounds touch me at my core. I am exhilarated by their announcement of the impending arrival of autumn.