Autumn's Arrival

 

Autumn at Pokagon State Park

As the leaves skittered across the top of the tent in the bright sunlight, I was introduced to the works of Gerard Manley Hopkins years ago. It is funny when we remember poetry or songs or familiar phrases that our mind races back to the beginning. Mine does this often.

“Margaret are you grieving

Over Goldengrove unleaving.”

And so it was on a beautiful Autumn Day in Tennessee that the words of Hopkins went right into my soul and the words have never left me. I am referring to the poem, “Spring and Fall.” Sometimes I wish that not everything would send me to poetry or music, but it does.

Even without looking at the calendar, we know it is Autumn by the scents. When I pulled into the parking lot last weekend for the Johnny Appleseed Festival, I could smell Autumn. Campfires. Apple pies. Cider. Straw. The sounds were just as striking with the canon and the bagpipes strolling through the grounds. The best part of that festival is watching families being together having a wonderful time. The crowds were huge, but so were the smiles.

“Leaves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?”

What brings us to this place called Autumnal Equinox? The word “equinox” comes from the Latin word meaning equal thus we have the Autumnal Equinox and the Vernal Equinox in the spring. Does this mean the days and nights are exactly equal and thus brings us to Autumn? Not quite. I don’t want to get too technical, but some facts are so interesting. (You can always bring these up at your next gathering!) According to PBS News, “The sun has a size—it is not just a point in the sky. Sunrise starts when the upper edge of the sun meets the eastern horizon, and sunset ends when the upper edge of the sun sinks below the horizon.” Got it?

“Ah! As the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder.”

Let’s just call it equal days and nights. What about the change in color? We all love that. We flood social media with leaves and trees that are a flame in russet or crimson or golden yellow. How does that happen? This is all regulated by the longer nights. There are other factors to the beauty of Autumn, not just the length of the night. Warm days and cools night contribute to the rich colors. The soil moisture is also an indicating fact. We need some nice rainstorms to bring out the color. Luckily we are having that this week so the color might become quite brilliant following this week of rain. We can all hope so!

“By and by nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwoood leafmeal lie”

I love that our small world of northern Indiana is now dotted with pumpkins and mums. Homemade signs point the way to pumpkin patches for children. And, please let me add, always let children pick their pumpkins from a patch. I did it. You did it. Let’s give them the joy of finding those pumpkins. I have a story for you. A few years ago, when we were still having community gardens up in the Commons Park, I had a large garden of pumpkins. Of course, as it goes, the deer found them before I could harvest them. Jonah and Graham were much younger, and I promised them pumpkins from my patch. Since I would never disappoint a child (mine or yours!), I went to the farmers’ market and filled up my car with pumpkins. With the help of Kathy, we drove them up to my patch and rolled them all over the garden. When the boys came up to get them, they were delighted to find so many. I thought I was home free until Aaron noticed a price on one of them Busted for sure!

“And yet you will weep and know why.

Now no matter, child, the name

Sorrow’s springs are the same.”

I am in awe of Autumn. I love everything about it from the festivals to the ghost stories to the apple pie out of the oven. I love the candles burning late, the campfire dying down, and a fiddle playing in a nearby town. (Okay, probably not the fiddle!)

Let’s celebrate. Have fun with your children. Play in the leaves. Gather the apples.

“Itis the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for.”

Gerard Manley Hopkins