Autumn season has a chaotic sequence to it. While spring is a predictable progression of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, autumn is more disjointed. Autumn begins with warmth and ends with a cold sterility preparing us for the long winter nights and short days. In September it tries to keep its grip onto summer weather, with warm, sweet days. Then it jumps to cold mornings, frost on pumpkins, steam rising from waterways. Fall is mostly a transition from lazy summer days to cold winters that will arrive whether we like it or not.
Autumn has its own soundtrack. There is the rustle from leaves being swept across the pavement, and the crunch from dead leaves as we swish through them. There are the squirrels climbing around the trees gathering nuts.
Canada geese honk loudly while flying in V formations to warmer climes. There are piercing blast and reverberations from shotguns and rifles. Occasionally I hear some crow caws notifying their kin of a newly harvested field. Or starlings summoning their clan to begin their spectacular, trance-inducing murmurations. In the evening and morning, the rhythmic percussion sounds of the locusts replace the chirps of birds.
The air is dryer and crisper, so the engine noises from machines are louder and more differentiated. The thumping motorcycle engines and ambulances reverberate through my home. The sounds from clattering farm equipment slowly wind through the streets. The high-pitched chatter and laughter of children at the end of the school day echoes throughout the town.
Darkness takes over light as the oncoming winter looms. Mornings are dark. I walk my dogs with my hands in my pockets. Rather than a slow meandering walk, I walk briskly, anxious to get back inside to the warmth. My dogs also feel the cold and do their business quickly. Nights arrive sooner. On occasion, a large harvest moon hovers over the horizon.
The baby animals have grown into adult animals preparing for the winter. Birds from my bird feeder have retreated to the woods or flown to warmer climes.
Bright summer colors are replaced with subtle oranges, russet reds, and yellows as plants die, and trees prepare for the oncoming winter. Evergreens take a darker tint when the sap retreats to the trunks. Instead of growing, gardening becomes cutting down flowers, now brown, and raking brown and yellow leaves. The clean landscape is replaced by messy leaves and plants going to seed.
Scents transform from floral to heavy spices, pumpkin spice, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves prevail. The dusty odor from dry leaves and mold and the smell of burning ash from newly opened fireplaces puffs through the air.
Food changes to stews, noodles, squashes, root vegetables, potatoes, and soups. Warm, soft foods replace the cool salads of the summer. Dinner scents fill the air as the time-consuming tomato sauces, stews, and soups simmer. Melons are replaced by crisp apples. Desserts transform from frozen ice cream to pies and pumpkin spiced everything.
Autumn also brings unique holidays. Halloween with its candy and costumes. Thanksgiving has the smells of home, turkey, ham and familiar scents.
Unlike most people, I don’t care for autumn. The outside work is tedious, raking leaves and watching plants die. Everything is in preparation for closing the outdoors from the cold. But there is always football. So, enjoy the fall holidays and remember that spring is just another season away.
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
