Beginnings & Endings
(Click to enlarge)
No one in my family liked summer. Probably because we lived in New York City and summer is not fun there. Moving upstate changed all that– up to a point…though I must admit to a weakness for those beautiful June days when the temperature reaches perfection, the sky is blue with fluffy clouds, and a soporific breeze wafts through the trees. And true, one has much more time with the four or five extra hours of sunlight. Still in all, when the first hints of fall come I am bordering on ecstatic.
First there is the change in light. The sun, still hot in mid-September, does not pack the punch it did in July, when one could be outdoors for an hour and come in with a change in skin color. Temperatures cool. The grass does not grow as fast. The “blood” of the trees starts to flow back into the trunk causing leaves to change color. Walnuts, acorns and apples fall. The bats leave for warmer climes, giving us yet another chance to plug up holes inside to keep them outside next summer. Ads start to appear in early August for “Back to School” specials, bringing the butterflies, that were so rampant outdoors in August, inside the stomach of many a child. Even adults are not immune. Many grown people feel the flutter of back-to-school anxiety come fall. After all September means “back to school” for many, many years. Time to “honker down” again and mean business. Fall offers a new beginning and there is a tinge of excitement added to the anxiety in facing something new.
And most of all, fall is a time of riotous color, when a walk in the woods finds one reveling like a drunk, besotted by the yellow, orange, crimson, russet world which our eyes imbibe like a hefty cocktail. It is a time when Italian comes to the lips in a loud “Que bella!! (“How beautiful!!”) The green of summer is bucolic and raises the spirit, but the many colors of fall intoxicate. People start talking of peak color, and leafing becomes the pastime of many. It is the time to plant bulbs and endlessly rake blowing leaves.
But fall is a time of melancholia, too. Flowers die. Reptiles go into hibernation. Insects die or overwinter. Songbirds migrate. Trees eventually loose their leaves. Anxiety over new beginnings can be uncomfortable. And the end of the lazy days of summer brings with it shorter days, longer nights, and possible depression for many people. Moments of sobriety seep into intoxication with the new world of color as we may remember loved ones who can no longer share the beauty…who can no longer enjoy those cool, crisp days in September when coolness brushes the cheeks… days so coveted in August. For autumn is a celebration of endings, too, perhaps best described by the French poet, Guillaume Appolinaire, in his poem Autumn:
A bow-legged peasant and his ox receding
Through the mist slowly through the mists of autumn
Which hides the shabby and sordid villages
And out there as he goes the peasant is singing
A song of love and infidelity
About a ring and a heart which someone is breaking
Oh the autumn the autumn has been the death of summer
In the mist there are two gray shapes receding
MOONSIDE 
You are such a poet, with your words and pictures. Painting the beautiful and ethereal with strokes of color and emotion. I love this. Growing up outside Chicago I saw autumn in much the same way as you, and I hungered for the blooming of colors and coolness to alleviate the hot, humid days of summer. Thank you for this beautiful picture of what I remember so clearly and miss so dearly.
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September 11, 2023 at 3:06 PM
Thanks so much, Dayle, for your lavish compliments. Sorry you miss autumn in Chicago. My husband grew up there, too. I miss our upstate house terribly… the nature, my inspiration. We chose to retire in New York City for lots of reasons and I guess you and your husband chose Florida. Thank you again.
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September 12, 2023 at 9:31 AM
How poetic – a celebration of the end!
Usually the end is the beginning of a new one. The end is a thirst for change, a desire for a beginning, an expectation of change, anticipation of the sensations of childhood, when everything is all over again and for the first time.
I remember one friend told me that everything in her soul rejoiced and sang when there was a long road ahead, a journey, when she had to pack her things and hit the road. This is such happiness at the beginning of the journey and the end of being in one place.
As I grew older, I also fell in love with getting ready for the road. I loved the change of seasons, I loved autumn – when it’s sunny and mild weather outside, when it’s raining and everything is damp, when there’s the first ice on the puddles outside and frozen leaves crunch under your feet…
Now we have “Indian summer” – the splendor of soft sunny days that envelop you with their warmth and affection. I’m enjoying.
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September 12, 2023 at 2:59 PM
I think after the end there is a new beginning. I think you’re right. Glad you love Autumn, too. I like your word pictures! Thanks for writing.
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September 12, 2023 at 8:39 PM
Transparent lightness in September! 🍁🚝🗯
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September 12, 2023 at 9:03 PM
Love it!
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September 12, 2023 at 9:21 PM
Love the photo! Enjoyed your blog! Perfect descriptions of the changing seasons.
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September 12, 2023 at 6:02 PM
Oh, thank you so very much!! Glad you liked it!
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September 12, 2023 at 8:41 PM
Exceptionally well written, Ellen.
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September 13, 2023 at 6:44 AM
Thank you so much, Ronnie! How are you faring?
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September 13, 2023 at 9:55 AM
OK thanks, Ellen.
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September 13, 2023 at 3:30 PM
Hope you ARE okay! E
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September 13, 2023 at 4:15 PM
Aye. 🙂
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September 13, 2023 at 6:31 PM
🙂🙏🏽
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September 13, 2023 at 7:21 PM
Your vivid description of the changing seasons serves as a reminder that each season has its unique beauty and significance, even as it carries the weight of change. 🙏
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September 23, 2023 at 10:02 AM
Thank you for your comment!
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September 23, 2023 at 10:12 AM
Autumn is my favorite time of year because of the weather and looking forward to holidays. You described it perfectly, Ellen,
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September 23, 2023 at 6:44 PM
Thank you to a fellow Fall lover and, as another blogger put it, all the “ber” months. Enjoy the days which just fly and thanks for stopping by.
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September 23, 2023 at 8:05 PM