“The seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.”
Ben Logan
All of the signs of fall are in place, except cooler weather. I love summer, but this one has been sort of extreme. But Ma Nature is giving out plenty of hints for change. This hundred-year-old house has lots of cracks and crannies for insects and mice to enter, and they do. The mice have taken a sabbatical, of late, thankfully, but now it’s time for the annual run on beetles, crickets, and spiders. We can count on the mice being back as soon as they realize winter is around the corner. And they’ll be accompanied by box elder bugs. Oh, well, it’s a small price for living in a piece of Paradise.
We go to sleep to the songs of crickets coming in the open windows. Wake to the dawn gabbling of geese circling the meadow. Afternoon brings cicada music, and a purple haze that wraps a mantle on distant hills.
On the way to town, I notice that the cottonwoods have begun to put blonde highlights in their hair, proof that it’s not frost, but changing light that makes the color show happen. Fields of sunflowers have spread their blankets of gold; each little face turning to follow the sun as the day progresses.
Blackbirds line up on fences to chatter about travel plans. Barn swallows bunch up too; spend less time swooping and diving after mosquitoes and more of the day perched in line on the roof or branch. In a few weeks, we’ll step out some morning to their absence and wonder just when they departed. The songs we hear then will just be wind in the wire.
Probably, a lot of you haven’t noticed these subtle differences. Too busy following your favorite football teams, school routines, and monitoring the political climate. All of that will pass, you know. And someday, when you’re retired, the kids have all left home, and the government has kept on being who government is, then you may wonder where it all went, what to do with all that silence, and what comes next.
It wouldn’t hurt to practice for that time. Step outside and listen. Look up at the sky, and at the roadsides, as you travel. Enjoy today’s journey and get ready for change. It’s always out there, and it’s headed our way.
Meet me here next week, and meanwhile, do your best. Somebody might like it.