Fall Findings & Autumn Musings #LifeLessons #Quotes

February 2023
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I’ve always loved the fall months of the year. The last day of September and the onslaught of October days always makes me to think about how close we are to the end-of-the-year. I reflect on the year that’s past, and I wonder about the deprecating days ahead? I also enjoy remembering the musings and quotes by some of the favorite people in my life–via books…

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale. I’ve never thought to be frightened of it.”
– Lauren DeStefano, Wither

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The world has come alive, with all-new golden splendor (though born of decay). And, those colors are particularly vibrant at sunset, as the sky sets the whole skyline afire. In bookish terms, the season reminds us that we’ve turned another page in life. Summer is done, and now, another season is here to offer new adventures–sights, sounds, flavors, and the wonderful scents of cinnamon, baking apples and the earthy smell of all those colorful leaves (raked into a pile, and ready for the happy squeal of running-jumping boys)

“Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes and failures had been wiped clean by summer.”
– Wallace Stegner

There’s also the thought, quotes and musing about death, as Robert Frost so famously wrote about green turning to gold. If we must die, why should we go out quietly? “Rage, rage…” And, “Do not go gently…” There’s a certain brilliant flash as the leaves all capture our eye–that last time–before passing away to dust. Like a butterfly, emerging with a flourish of wings, color and flight–Fall presents a spectacle upon the tapestry of our lives.

“How beautifully the leaves grow old! How full of light and color are their last days! … The whole body of the air seems enriched by their calm, slow radiance. They are giving back the light they have been absorbing from the sun all summer.”
– John Burroughs, Under the Maples,”The Falling Leaves”

It’s been so simply said and written:

“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”
– Lee Maynard

Revel in Nature? In the wonder that has been allotted us–for such a brief time? We can dance, sing, and celebrate the harvest.

“Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance / With the stars up above in your eyes / A fantabulous night to make romance / ’Neath the cover of October skies / And all the leaves on the trees are falling / To the sound of the breezes that blow…”
– Van Morrison

With a tune still humming, my musings still pause for more than a minute or two. Yes, the Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but it’s also filled with remembrance (again back to the autumnal decay?). My son was diagnosed with cancer in September, 2007–the beginning of an epic journey. And, my brother died in October many years ago.

Despite everything, I still like to think back to the passage from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”:

“It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet.”
– Washington Irving

I’m reminded that anything is possible in a day, or even in a season. During the span of a day, those 24 hours might be the best you could possibly hope for; the time can also be filled with our worst fears.

But, pause for a moment. Consider…

“Our tree-lined streets are set ablaze, our kitchens filled with the smells of nostalgia: apples bubbling into sauce, roasting squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, cider, warmth itself. The leaves as they spark into wild color just before they die are the world’s oldest performance art, and everything we see is celebrating one last violently hued hurrah before the black and white and silence of winter. Fall is begging for us to dance and sing and write with just the same drama and blaze.”
– Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way

Why not write a racket; dance and sing; and hope? Why not?

Perhaps the next quotes will be from your hand…