I posted this blog before but this year with so many events
closed and feeling very isolated because of the Covid virus, I needed to remind
myself that things do naturally change and have fun with that change.
Autumn is here. You
can tell by the cooler weather, the falling leaves, the harvest of apples and
pumpkins, the falling leaves, the shorter amount of daylight, the falling
leaves, the Halloween decorations, and, of course, the falling of leaves. What is also here is seasonal fun.
To me fall is here when I see caramel apples in the grocery
store and rows of potted mums near the parking lot. I love to see the trees change colors. Where I grew up in Green Bay Wisconsin there
was a park behind my Mother’s house. It
was filled with maple trees, which would turn the most beautiful red and gold
every year. I still to this day can’t
decided if I liked the color of the trees against a blue clear or gray cloudy
sky. Each sky changed the hue of the
leaves just a little.
I was always thought to be crazy because I enjoy raking
leaves. Still do. It allowed me to be outdoors in cool crisp
weather. I love the smell of the air
while raking – it was fresh and earthy.
And there is something meditative about pulling the rake back and forth
as I worked across the lawn. I love to
rake; I hate to bag the leaves. I
always wanted to do what writer and psychologist Leo Buscaglia talked about
doing. He liked walking through piles of
leaves so much he wanted to bring them into his house. It’s not so crazy, he would add, when you
think that people bring whole trees into their house at Christmas. So what’s a
few leaves. And as he would say, “I am
not asking you to clean them up.
Autumn provides a wonderful way to have fun. It is time for outdoor activities now that
the heat of summer has passed. Why do we
need to bag up the leaves? Put them in a
big pile in the middle of your yard and jump in them. Take a handful and throw them up in the air
like confetti. Roll around in them until
your hair is tangled in leaves (you might want that as your Halloween costume.)
Of course Halloween is the highlight of autumn fun. Halloween was originally associated with
death and the supernatural, falling on the eve of All Saint’s Day, a holy
holiday for Catholics and Anglicans. Now
it is a day of fun and parties and dressing up in costume. It allows children of all ages to
fantasize. I have never been a costume
person but my favorite one was an old sheet and a plastic mask to be a friendly
ghost when I was about 7. I have liked ghosts ever since.
I remember that holiday as one where my mother created my
brother Jim and my costumes. I can see
her on our living room floor copying in white paint the design of a skeleton on
to a black costume she’d sewn for Jim. I
know it was a lot of work but my guess is that she enjoyed doing that much more
than buying a store bought costume.
Autumn and Halloween is when you can have fun and try your
hand at something new. Carve a different
face on the pumpkin you bought. Roast
the pumpkin seeds if you have never done that. Try a little bit of costume
designing of your own. Dance a jig in
the pile of leaves you have in the back yard (and when you are done, rake them
to a corner of the yard and let them decompose through the winter into compost.
It will be great for your garden in the spring.) Decorate your house with
goblins and ghouls or leaves and gourds.
Try some new apple or pumpkin recipes.
Let the season into your house and life.
Autumn is here and it can be fun. So try something new and creative.
© 2016, 2020 – Cheryl Fillion
