A Foretaste of Fall
(revised version)
It is the school-imposed end of summer, Labor Day weekend, a weekend I look forward to all summer long for the love of Fall. It is not good to be this way. Religious leaders preach living in the present for that is all we have. I have yet to overcome this and many other bad ways of thinking. I look forward to the crisp days of September when a breeze shimmers through, what I call in my ignorance of the real name, the penny tree. It is so named because when the wind blows the leaves look like so many pennies shimmering down from Heaven. I live for the days when the sun is so hot it tingles on the skin– yet it is not the strong sun of July that burns quickly. The angle of the sun in its diurnal slant is different. Summer is definitely slipping away.
The bees, wasps and yellow jackets are having a heyday in the goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed and Purple Loosestrife. The marsh is thick with flying insects going this way and that. My eyes capture swallowtails. Happily the monarchs are still here. A turkey vulture circles overhead. Some carrion must be nearby. Earlier we saw two golden hawks fly sunlit into the back field. A wisp of a cloud floats by in an otherwise perfectly blue sky. This summer has flown by in the blink of an eye like a fritillary flits by the flowers in the marsh.
The smell of fresh cut lawn is intoxicating to my raw senses. Soon the grass will cease to grow and the lush green will look washed out. All of its inhabitants in the metropolis beneath our feet will dig deep underground or turn off their bodily systems to overwinter– an amazing concept to a mammal. Some fill their bodies with a type of antifreeze. Nature never ceases to astound. This summer I have made my peace with the insects. Terrified of them as a child I have come to love and respect them, indeed hold them in awe for the feats they accomplish. Our accomplishments pale as humans, supposedly so superior.
No longer do I see turtles sunning on rocks or snakes coming out to bask in the heat of the road. Some species of birds have left already– unbeknownst to me. I just know that some I used to see are gone and the bird song of the spring mating season is a fleeting memory. One lone humming bird flies around the marsh intermittently, causing excitement upon spotting him.
It is the time to dead head the flowers of summer. It is the time of Black-Eyed Susans and Peonies and Sebum. And soon it will be the time of the Mums.
With each gust of wind yellow finger-like walnut leaves shower down on our heads– like large yellow snowflakes– a foretaste of snowfalls to come. The sun’s shadows grow long as twilight is near. Soon the white cloud “lions and tigers and bears” will retire into the black cave of night. And the summer will die and in dying, give birth to fall. The comfortable rhythm of the changing season beats in our sometimes unhearing hearts.
(Aknowledgements to “likes” and comments may be delayed. Recuperating from surgery.)
MOONSIDE 
Thank you, dear Ellen, for this beautiful “walk” into autumn—my favorite time of the year. Your words created experiences and feelings in me. Loved the photos as well. Sending you light, blessings, and love and wishing you a fast recovery, my friend 🙏✨🌻🌈💖
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September 1, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Thank you for your good wishes, Susana. They are much appreciated. I, too, love the Fall best of all. Live for it. Enjoy for it flies by so fast. ❤️🙏🏽
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September 1, 2025 at 10:47 AM
The scenery of nature when summer slowly transitions to autumn is, to borrow your words, “intoxicating to the raw senses.” I love what you call the penny tree, raining down pennies from heaven when the wind blows. The mammals starting their hibernation, the turtles and the snakes hiding away, new flowers emerging, the birds starting to migrate. Indeed there is a rhythm and song of the changing season. It is a wondrous time. Thank you for sharing the beauty of it all. Rest well during your recovery, dear Ellen.
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September 1, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Thank you, Dear Dee. Glad it gave you a good feeling. Yes, a wondrous time. 🙏🏽
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September 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Your wonderful welcoming of autumn has given me a more elevated regard for the season. I love summer! Thank you, Ellen. 🙂
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September 1, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Oh, I am so glad it gave you a good feeling about Fall, Nancy. Thank you for sharing that!
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September 1, 2025 at 12:32 PM
You’re welcome! 😁
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September 1, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Ellen that was so incredibly beautiful. Thank you.🤗
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September 1, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Oh, Gigi, so very glad you liked it. Thank you! 🫠
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September 1, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Just wonderful. Every word drew me deeper and deeper into your post.
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September 1, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Thank you, Gigi! Thank you very much!🙏🏽
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September 1, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Such a wonderful ode to this time of year. which also happens to be my favourite. The only downfall to the autumn is that it might go as quick as the summer has. Let’s savor it! I hope you are healing well from your surgery, Ellen.🙏❤️
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September 2, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Thank you, dear Julie! Yes, it already is flying by. Like life. Being partly dependent on my husband is a humbling feeling. I have lots of lessons to learn. Hope you are well and look forward to your next post. ❤️Ellen
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September 2, 2025 at 10:15 AM
I think it’s lovely that you two take turns, caring for each other. 🩷🩷
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September 3, 2025 at 9:36 AM
This transition time between summer and fall is a bit bittersweet. We don’t have a legitimate autumn here in Florida, so we miss the crisp and cool that you all have up north. I miss the changing of the colors, the renewed sounds of fall, and the briskness of dropping temperatures. The pictures are beautiful.
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September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Sorry you miss it. New York City is at its best in the Fall I think but I miss our little barn upstate with all the critters.
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September 2, 2025 at 8:09 PM
This is remarkable; there is no Fall season where I am from since it’s a tropical region, so I find this very interesting ✌️😄
All the best to you and your recuperation 🤗🤗🤗
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September 3, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Dear.Killa.,
Glad to share Fall with you. I think it the most beautiful of all seasons. But the tropics have their own special beauty from the little I have seen. Thank you for your kind wishes. 🙏🏽
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September 3, 2025 at 10:12 AM
So true 💯💯, there is definitely alot of beautiful unique lore on the tropical side of things, and you are very welcome my friend ☺️🫡💙💙
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September 3, 2025 at 9:48 PM
🥰🫠🙏🏽
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September 3, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Thank you, dear Julie! You make me realize how grateful to him I am. I guess I took care of him when he had the same operation but I have only recollections of being terrified of losing him. Life is hard. Sharing the difficulties is rewarding and agonizing at the same time. Perhaps you shouldn’t listen to me. The anesthesia has left me very depressed. But I do so appreciate your comments!❤️
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September 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
We’re on opposite sides of the world, so for me it is the reverse; small buds getting ready to blossom… all the amber hues are forgotten – so it was lovely to relive them again! Linda xx
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September 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Thank you, Linda! Enjoy your Spring!
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September 7, 2025 at 8:57 PM
🥰🌻thank you kindly – sending lots of love your way, L xx
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September 7, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Thank you… sending some right back to you.
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September 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM
🤍
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September 11, 2025 at 12:59 PM
🙏🏽
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September 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Great post! Love the imagery…feel like I’m there.
I also like the end of summer, the beginning of Fall… it reminds me of beginnings… the first semester of school, football season, the tangy snap of fireplace smoke, nature making the preparations for the coming winter. And winter… that’s an awesome season; hunkered down inside with a good book and a hot beverage…no expectations of outdoor chores, falling asleep on the couch entirely permissible 😎
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September 11, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Yes, you’re right. Stuff to look forward to. The colors, too. Thank you for writing!
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September 11, 2025 at 11:08 PM