Beginnings & Endings
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. Although I must admit 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 the attic for warmer climes, giving us yet another chance to plug up holes inside to keep them outside next summer. Summer houses are closed down. The butterflies, that were so rampant outdoors in August are now inside the stomach of many a child with the start of school. 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 some thing 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!!” 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, so coveted in August, when coolness brushes the cheeks.
For autumn is a celebration of endings, too, perhaps best described by the French poet, Guillaume Appollinaire, in his poem Autumn:
“A bowlegged peasant and his ox receding
through the mist slowly through the mist of autumn…
Oh the autumn the autumn has been the death of summer
In the mist there are two gray shapes receding.”
MOONSIDE 
Beautiful and moving post.
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September 24, 2024 at 1:58 AM
Thank you so much, Cindy!!! Means a lot to me!!
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September 24, 2024 at 4:39 AM
Beautifully written, Ellen! You took me easily into the magic and soulfulness of Autumn. It’s my favorite season; maybe because I am a child of autumn. I felt at home and at ease, celebrating the ends (as you said), which for me always meant woven new beginnings. Mystical such as me! Thank you so much, dear friend, for this post. It brightens my day! Lots of light and blessings to you*
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September 24, 2024 at 2:29 AM
Hi, Susana, thank you so much for your comment which brightens my day!! I salute you, oh child of Autumn, as a child of winter. Light and blessings to you as well, my newly found friend! Enjoy for it is fleet of foot!
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September 24, 2024 at 5:02 AM
Beautiful Autumn hymn! You words make true feeling of the season.
The blurry pictures look like artistic painting. Awesome!
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September 24, 2024 at 7:03 AM
Thank you so much, Alexander. So glad you liked the post.
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September 24, 2024 at 10:54 AM
What an insanely beautiful photo with a golden tree!
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September 24, 2024 at 9:46 AM
Thank you so much, Ubit. 🥰🙏🏽
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September 24, 2024 at 11:12 AM
🌞🧡🌞
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September 24, 2024 at 3:29 PM
I like your post as much as I like Autumn.
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September 24, 2024 at 10:59 AM
😊🙏🏽
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September 24, 2024 at 11:02 AM
Have a wonderful colourful Autumn day! 🙏
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September 24, 2024 at 11:34 AM
Thank you and you as well!
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September 24, 2024 at 11:41 AM
Your photos once again bring bigger, grander pictures to mind of the color you all get to experience up north. This is the time of year I miss the most–I loved autumn for all the reasons you mentioned, the cool crispness, the riotous color of the leaves, the end of the hefty oven of summer. Thank you for creating in words and pictures such a beautiful–and at times heart-wrenching–picture of time passing. Well done, my friend.
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September 24, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Thank you, Dayle! Sounds bittersweet for you. We are no longer there either. This is a resuscitated post. Most are these days. But you, as well as we, have our memories to treasure.
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September 24, 2024 at 11:34 AM
And wonderful memories they are. You made me see what we don’t have here. That’s something amazing.
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September 24, 2024 at 11:37 AM
Glad to share it with you!
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September 24, 2024 at 11:40 AM
Ah, the wistfulness of Autumn. Thank you for another poignant stroll through the leaves and changing times.
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September 24, 2024 at 11:51 AM
Thank you, Cheyenne!
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September 24, 2024 at 11:55 AM
Wonderful. Your reflection beautifully captures autumn’s bittersweet nature, blending the melancholy of endings with the fleeting beauty of change. The cyclical rhythm of the seasons—summer’s warmth, autumn’s coolness, winter’s dormancy—echoes the shifting moods of creatures and habitats. It’s a poignant reminder that as nature transforms, so do we, moving through cycles of life, loss, and renewal.
Vedanta beautifully echoes your reflection, affirming that creation itself is cyclic, much like the changing seasons. Just as your post portrays the ebb and flow of beginnings and endings, Vedanta teaches us that all existence is subject to this eternal rhythm. Through these natural cycles, we see the essence of impermanence and transformation, reminding us that change is the very fabric of life. Namaste Ji. Regards.
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September 24, 2024 at 12:04 PM
Beautifully poetic and sacred comment. I am studying a very basic knowledge of Hinduism and trying to see all you say in your comment. Bahut, bahut dhanayawaad and namaste, Arun ji.🙏🏽
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September 24, 2024 at 12:08 PM
Aapko bhi bahut bahut dhanywaad my sister Elen Ji. Happy to know that you are studying basic knowledge of Hinduism. Please feel free to ping me. Thanks and regards. Arun. 🙏
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September 24, 2024 at 12:55 PM
🙏🏽🙏🏽💫
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September 24, 2024 at 2:05 PM
Wonderful post. It’s perfectly timed as we welcome fall, and the pictures are beautiful too.
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September 24, 2024 at 12:43 PM
Thank you so much, Willie!
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September 24, 2024 at 7:46 PM
Yoy are very welcome
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September 24, 2024 at 8:43 PM
Your beautiful fall pictures and your compelling words wonderfully extol the glory of autumn. They’re so inspiring that I need to put on my hiking boots and go for a stroll! 🙂
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September 24, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Thanks, Nancy… have a good one!😄 Nothing changing inner York City yet.
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September 24, 2024 at 7:43 PM
What a beautiful post. So true and yet said softly. It’s really wonderful and to end with a poem the great French poet Appollinaire…well, it doesn’t get any better than that. Hope you’re feeling better. 🙂
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September 24, 2024 at 10:46 PM
Thank you so much! Especially coming from you who adores summer. Not feeling too good, no. So many doctor appointments and a test next week. Whine, whine, whine. I am sorry. Thanks for asking. ❤️
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September 24, 2024 at 10:53 PM
I hope everything turns out fine and you feel better soon. Hate doctor appts., and I’m sure you do as well. The chicklets and I send healing vibrations.
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September 24, 2024 at 11:22 PM
Oh, so sweet… thank you! Yes, I hate doctors appts vehemently. Thank you!❤️
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September 25, 2024 at 9:08 AM