Summer's Best of Weather, Autumn's Best of Cheer

The golden-rod is yellow;  
The corn is turning brown;  
The trees in apple orchards  
With fruit are bending down. 
 

The gentian's bluest fringes 
Are curling in the sun;  
In dusty pods the milkweed  
Its hidden silk has spun. 
 

The sedges flaunt their harvest,  
In every meadow nook;  
And asters by the brook-side 
Make asters in the brook.    

From dewy lanes at morning  
The grapes' sweet odors rise; 
At noon the roads all flutter  
With yellow butterflies. 
   
By all these lovely tokens  
September days are here,  
With summer's best of weather,  
And autumn's best of cheer. 
 

But none of all this beauty  
Which floods the earth and air  
Is unto me the secret  
Which makes September fair. 
 

'T is a thing which I remember;  
To name it thrills me yet:  
One day of one September 
I never can forget.   

~Helen Hunt Jackson, as taken from Enki Grade Two Poetry 
 

As I am lamenting the highs around eighty, I am trying to remember that this really is perfect weather for many folks.  It is, if you wish to avoid air conditioning, as we do.  We shut out the sun during keys times and blow in the cool air at night.  Breakfast porridge is welcome, and we start the day with sweaters, ending in bare legs and sandals, only to cozy up under comforters again at bedtime.

We went up to White Top day before yesterday, to see the sights, and feel some sixty-degree temperatures.  As you can see, the seasons shift at a different pace up there.  The leaves were on the trees scarcely four months before they blew away to their Winter's sleep.  The last of the Summer flowers are still hanging on, like the wee goldenrod, aster, and closed gentian. 

The other scenes are from my parents' home, where we are house sitting again.  It gets me out along the country roads every other day, which is so nice this time of year.  It is clear that things are changing ahead of schedule this year.  Fairwood Valley was certain not far from peak color when we drove to the mountain.  My parents' own little valley is not far off, as much as the warmth hangs on for another week.  The maple nearly bare of its leaves was surprising and the spotted jewelweed has called it quits.

People speculate about a hard Winter, as older folks often do.  I could use it, as I imagine other people could.  Ticks and colds and things like that need a good freezing.  It makes me feel so awake and refreshed to be out in the cold and snow.  I do like hibernating at home, but I love getting out into the wilder weather just as much or more.