First Day of Fall

Tonight is the Autumn Equinox!


As a nod to Fall I made butternut squash soup for dinner tonight. Somehow my family really liked it, so we may have it again -- only with bacon! or clams! or corn! It's quite a good substitute for potato based soups.


Mmmm, potatos butternut squash!


It feels like Fall. The mountains are changing colors, there's a bite to the air, the days are getting shorter, and Halloween candy is everywhere. Yay!
The old couplet: "Fall is for falling in love; Spring is for springing out" comes to mind during this season. Every year I look forward to something/someone new to fall for. I haven't quite decided what it ought to be this year. Perhaps I'll try a new approach and stop looking.


This is a season of celebration. Harvests are over; there is plenty to do in preparation for the future without looking for more work.


There is so much to be said for being happy with what has already been accomplished and learned.


Contentment without complacency.


I love this time of year because of the mild weather and festivities. I also love it because it is a time for both new beginnings and rest. School, sports seasons, television programming, and social events begin again in full force. They don't let up until Spring.


The earth takes a break and reclaims all the things that were fresh in the Spring to recycle for next year. Lessons and changes have the opportunity to settle in the Fall. A chance to seep into the ground, into our bones, into our souls. We won't really see these changes until they are challenged by the hot sun to test how deeply they hold.

Fall is for preparing, Winter for waiting, Spring for planting, Summer for determining.

The Iris

In the fall I planted you. It wasn’t so much that I did anything, really. The hole was already there, left vacant from something that had died. You simply fell in and the earth closed around you so I let you stay.

All winter I try to forget you. But, as soon as I succeed in pushing you from my mind and stop staring at the place where you rest – safe and protected from the gales I blow around myself – you’d disturb the ground and cause me to notice your existence once more.

The only thing I have left is to wait. I wait patiently for the spring to show me if you ever intended to live.

I would dearly love to see an iris in full bloom.