September 16, 2008
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Fall – featured grownups topic 2 for September
What does it bring to mind for you?
It brings to mind the scents of mildew and wood smoke, running and jumping into a big raked-up pile of fallen leaves, then rolling out of the pile feeling itchy and icky, and wondering, as I combed debris out of my hair and tried to shake leaves out of my sweater, why anyone would ever want to do such an idiotic thing.
As soon in childhood as I settled upon a favorite season, fall was it. It meant an end to summer, heat stroke, sunburn and all that. There were colors: red, orange and yellow, in the trees. It meant my birthday, parties, presents and all that. It was my season.
Even then, it was bittersweet, because it meant back-to-school. It meant wearing shoes all the time, and giving up pants, shorts and coveralls for dresses. It meant an end to lazy days and the return of the dreaded alarm clock. Some of that came back to me again when my kid, Doug, started to school. Now that he is out of school, the alarm clock is a thing of the past, but I still have plenty of reasons for preferring Alaskan summer to fall. A birthday isn’t enough to offset the onset of darkness and cold weather.
Except for a few isolated exotic ornamentals, the reds and oranges of the trees have not been part of fall for the half of my lifetime since I have been in Alaska. There is some red in the understory early, that swiftly turns brown about the time the trees go golden and start giving back the sunshine they’ve absorbed during the days of the midnight sun.
After a winter or two in Alaska, fall became a time of fear for me. For the first time in my life, I felt a migratory urge drawing me southward as the days grew shorter and colder. A few decades of winter survival have blunted the impact somewhat. Once I got out of Anchorage and into Alaska itself, fall became associated with berry picking, ‘shrooming, bedding down garden plants for winter, and piling up a supply of firewood.
Now, with nights actually getting dark once more, the aurora borealis is visible again. With adequate winter gear and my hard earned survival skills, I’m less interested now in following the waterfowl south. Fall now means I can forget about watering the garden, but I need to be mindful of the axe, snow shovel and sled, and be sure they are propped up, so they won’t be lost first time it snows.
Comments (28)
“… running and jumping into a
big raked-up pile of fallen leaves, then rolling out of the pile
feeling itchy and icky, and wondering, as I combed debris out of my
hair and tried to shake leaves out of my sweater, why anyone would ever
want to do such an idiotic thing.”
LMAO!! Oh man, it’s not just me… I think I did it once or twice as a kid and could not for the life of me figure out why it was a good thing!
@lupa - My theory: It never was seen as a good thing. It was a way that adults or bigger kids misled little kids so they could laugh at them.
fall for me is a time of blessings as I walk through the woods with my camera and watch the trees turn brillant colors of red, orange, yellow and shades of brown. It is a time of gassing up the generator for the days when the fall and winter winds blow out the electric, and stalking up on wood for the corner fireplace in our apt.
it is the time of getting up at day light and watching the fog rise from river as the sun warms it. i capture those moments on my camera. it is a time of stalking up on cold meds. because the men of the house will soon be sharing thier coughs and runny noses with me.
fall is just another season in my life that i am grateful to see again.
@stixandstonz - You could blog it for FG.
Fall is my favorite season as well. I hope to someday see the Aurora Borealis. I can’t imagine that any picture could truly do it justice.
The fall colors never cease to amaze me! Let’s dive into those leaves!
Snow…which could be any day now, yes? I hope your winter is relatively mild and short, although that probably doesn’t mean too much where you are. I never lost that sad feeling of having to go back to school (which I hated). I am trying to allow the scents and colors override that “body memory.”
@butshebites - We have had snow in September before, but it usually doesn’t stay until October. This year, with unceasing rain, is so far from any familiar weather pattern, that I’m not even trying to guess what the winter will be like. The professional weather guessers are saying it will be a mild winter. Mild temperatures have always meant more snowfall. Clear weather is cold, and when it warms up it snows. Stay tuned.
hmmm, that is a very interesting and yet slightly different take on what fall means….we are all individuals. My brother spent several years in alaska, while in the USAF, and I never once thought to ask him what fall was like up there….lots of winter talk but never fall…thanks for sharing…:)
I’m liking fall a lot more as I grow older. Summer is nice, but too hot most of the time.
haha I tried the pile of leaves once too – that was enough
Had a laff about jumping in the leaves. I never experienced that in Florida. I had a friend who was stationed in Thule, Greenland. You couldn’t touch metal, like a door knob, with your bare hands or you might lose your skin. Hope Alaska doesn’t get like that in winter.
With all that, I’d like to visit Alaska. LOL. It sure doesn’t sound boring.
I remember when I was a little boy in Indiana and before my mom remarried. One of the men she was dating had taken to carefully raking his front lawn (it was not expansive) and left a huge pile of golden brown, reddened, and yellowed leaves comfortably collected underneath the lone huge tree populating his yard. There was another little boy there, maybe his son or maybe his nephew. I just remember that we both looked at that pile, rising higher than the finest strands of near white hair on our heads would stand, and then at each other. It wasn’t another moment passed that we had returned the yard to its natural autumnal state and covered each other in crumpled bits of leaves and twigs.
My mom had a picture of that moment. I can’t remember where it is or what’s become of it but it was one of those memories I look back on and laugh. I can’t help but imagine that my mom’s erstwhile boyfriend, at that point in time, must have thought along the same lines as you, wondering why anyone would ever want to do such an idiotic thing…
Autumn always brings to mind the sensation of coming in from the crisp outdoors and finding my grandmother’s house very warm with the smell of something slow cooked – chili, goulash, stew – filling my nostrils with such comforting aromas. Now that I live somewhere that doesn’t have autumn, that’s something I dearly miss.
@TheCheshireGrins - Funny finding you here! I was just randomly browsing through blogs. Small online world. I agree: seeing the Aurora Borealis is on my list for this lifetime.
fall means feeling alive invigorated.
I wanted to tell you that even in my 1 yr absence here I thought of you on occasion.Strange how someone I have never met has had an impact on what I want to do.
Well written and I like the addition of the shots of autumn. I wasn’t much for jumping into the piles of leaves…too much stuff in them like sticks and such, but loved the cool, crisp mornings.
Hope whatever the winter brings will give you a chance to bring those autumn days closer for a closer mental look.
@SuSu - Sounds like a good explanation to me!
Autumn doesn’t have much associated with it for me. Rain, a cooling down and the knowledge that my love is coming – WINTERRRRRRRRR!!!1111!!!!111!
(^ I’m listening to “Winter Madness” by death metal band Wintersun and they just screamed winter… hence the erm, energy)
Actually, intimate acoustic indie/folk/alt. rock singers Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake remind me of Autumn. Possibly Phil Ochs, but to a much lesser extent. I might listen to them now.
My friend, Jess, is coming to visit me in Autumn. Perhaps it will become associated with her.
@dsullivan - Alaska definitely gets that cold. I have stuck to the inner knob on my front door when letting the dog in. We don’t go out in winter without dressing for it. Hypothermia is a real danger. It gets so cold that flexible plastics grow brittle, radial tires need a mile or two of bumpity bump to round out the flat side after being parked overnight, and motor oil becomes more adhesive than lubricant. One learns to adapt.
@TheCheshireGrins - and @christao408 - The aurora (we call it simply “The Lights”) is one of very few winter events that can impel me to suit up and go out and stand around in the cold and dark when it is more than about twenty below zero. It can range all the way from a faint green veil to vivid moving multicolored streamers, lighting up the snow, brighter than a full moon.
I love jumping in a pile of leaves! I guess I’m weird.
Great post! I had to wear dresses to school too, and I hated it. Can’t play on the playground that way!
I used to like Fall a whole lot more, until I realized we had a whole lot more winter – but you have me beat! I don’t think that I could handle a winter as long and fierce as yours, I really don’t. Every year I feel a little more panicked just thinking about it. I’m glad you feel that you can enjoy the Fall and cope with the Winter.
I’m curious where you lived before Alaska. Do you like living in Alaska? Or do you just tolerate it? That is the attitude that many North Dakotans have. They just tolerate it. I personally enjoy living here, but the cold winters do get a bit much to handle sometimes. Nothing compared to AK I’m sure.
@flatpick46 - I lived in quite a few places, in the west, southwest and midwest. Details can be found on the right hand side of my main page. Of course I like living here. I’ve stayed for 35 years. I’m not the sort of person to just endure anything if I have a choice.
@SuSu - Thank you for that. I am very intrigued by Alaska. I’ve never been there, but I find myself wanting to see it more and more.
How beautiful and lovely. Makes me long for Alaska.
yours is my favorite entry. thank you for sharing.
I love the beauty of the fall but, like you, I don’t look forward to what follows.