The Coming of Fall

There's more than a hint of Fall...........it's cold and it gets dark by seven o'clock.  Out came the afghans, though they weren't far.  I hadn't got around to putting them away last Spring and they were still piled on a table in the hall after I washed them.  This particular one was a thrift store find, and Patrick is certainly comfortable on it.  I also have a huge one given to me by Thom....my favorite even though it has to be washed quite often.  It's white with pink and green roses.  Then I have one I made myself many years ago with a complicated crochet pattern, and yet another of Thom's, shades of blue and white granny squares.  They signify winter to me.  Every evening the dogs and I sit on the couch wrapped in these blankets watching TV.  It's the only time I am warm...probably the dogs, too. 

Right now the temperature in the house is 60 degrees.  Outside it's much colder.  My hands are stiff with cold as I type, in the familiar way of winter. Of course the days are still relatively warm.  I worked at the horse shelter without a jacket today.  The sun was out and there was no wind there in Perry.  Eastport is always colder this time of year, and often not as cold in the winter months because of the ocean's constant temperature.  The trees have not started to turn color yet here as they have on the mainland.  Fall lasts longer here, too...........again thanks to the ocean.

Strangely I don't seem to feel particularly negative about the coming cold and snow and ice. It.s still a  month or more away. It was only the sight of Patrick with the pillows and blanket, and the descending darkness. and the cold, that made my mind race ahead.  I like the changing seasons here.    Each year the world turns itself around, and here we see it.  We see the evidence of time passing, and the cyclical nature of things.  Every year there is a winter, but not the same winter, spring but not the same spring, summer not the same summer, and fall, not the same fall.   Our seasons are loud and raucous........they force us to have to adapt to a different way of life four times a year. 

And now, because it's Fall, I have to go out and close the hen house door.  My girls are vulnerable in the dark, and it is totally dark now.  I'll need a flashlight.