Not sure what brought this on. Maybe it might have been the overcast skies, made that way by the huge fires in BC, or it could have been the really soggy weather we have been having. Nevertheless, the thoughts are now there and with them come memories.

I think it starts with the sharp crispness in the morning that heralds a change in the colors of the leaves. Some trees go flamboyant before others and not all go red, so there is a bright fall palette that evolves over weeks. Shortly after there are those smells; the rich fruity scent of crops waiting to be gathered in mixed with a sort of damp, smoky smell from the bonfires filled with dead leaves, raked up to be disposed of but still not completely dry and maybe dripping with morning dew. Flowers dwindle and dye back, except for the chrysanthemums and the fall asters. Sounds accompany all this, from the restless rustle of the leaves to the honking of vees of geese flying south. Some say the humming birds hitch a ride with them but I don’t know if this is true of not.

As the temperature drops, and then rises with the Indian summer, there are different sights of less than enthusiastic students heading back to school after the long summer break. I think in the back of everyone’s mind is the thought of snow coming, as it does and usually before Halloween. I guess this is when winter really starts, despite the official date in December. There again, our winter will hang around until the end of April or early May if we luck out. Not yet, though. Summer has a few weeks left to run.