Not a Fan of Fall--

Not a Fan of Fall--

It's that time of year.  Everyone is loving the cooler weather.  Trees are beginning to turn those lovely colors.  Football games add to the charm of fall.  Days slowly become shorter.  Sweaters and jackets are brought out.  Blankets appear in baskets in the family room.  Time to cover up while watching tv.  Apple pie and cider fill the house with their aroma.  Festivals abound in small towns.  Everyone loves it.

I don't.  Well, I do enjoy the cooler weather, the vibrant colors, the college football games.  Festivals are fun, and anything to do with apples is yummy.  But, that is as far as it goes with me.  Yep.  I am not a fan of fall.  I realize that puts me at odds with almost every human alive on planet earth.  I can handle that.  Until there is a conversation about how wonderful fall is.  I usually don't engage in those conversations.  No need to spoil another's joy.

Why don't I like fall, you ask?  Living in the Midwest means when fall arrives, winter is creeping in, too.  Actually, winter never creeps in.  It comes in with a shout, a roar. It swoops  in like a hawk heading for a mouse.  No warning.  All of a sudden, there she is.  Big and cold.  For months and months and months.  Oh my.  Writing these words makes my heart heavy.  (not really)

All the lovely plants in my yard and everywhere around this area begin to develop that look.  You know the one I am writing about.  They have the look of death.  Beautiful flowers no longer bloom.  Hosta begin to turn brown and wither away.  Nothing has a fresh look about it.  It all looks tired and weary.  To keep the beds tidy, I pull and trim and cut all that dead stuff away.  Trying to buy a little more time to enjoy them before they are all gone.

Leaves make their departure from heights they have enjoyed all summer.  They cover the earth.  While they do make beautiful piles to jump in, their journey to the ground means no green leaves for months and months.  Soon trees will stand majestically against the wind, snow, rain with nothing to protect themselves.  Poor things.

The boat will have to be removed from the lake.  No more days spent cleaning layers and layers of bugs.  How sad.

Fields of corn and soy beans will be no more.  The earth where they grew will be void of any plant life.  Acres and acres of empty fields with nothing growing.  That landscape goes on and on.  Certainly not depressing for farmers, but for those of us who yearn for mountains and streams, a bit lonely.

I hear people remarking that it is the time for the earth to rest.  They say it gives something to look forward to.  Really?  Do these folks really look forward to being housebound with no electricity?  Do they look forward to roads that require the driving skills of a race car driver to navigate?

Are you completely depressed by now?  Well, don't be.  Sometimes I enjoy taking the opposite point of view and seeing life through those lens.  However, I still don't like fall.  I enjoy the world putting on its best dress.  Dolling up for all of us.  Green, purple, red, yellow, orange, blue.  I miss all those colors for all those months they are gone.

Yes, spring will return.  The earth will warm.  But right now I have to deal with fall.  The end of everything giving all it has, and the beginning of the long wait.

Think a plane ticket is in the plans?:)