Autumn has arrived in the country. Temps are down to the low 40's/high 30's at night, the leaves are starting to turn. We fired up the wood-burning stove to usher in the new season (and burn piles of newspaper). Summer clothes have been put away, long underwear and sweaters and thick socks are all out. The last tomato has turned orangish, the last green beans have been picked, and no luck with either the eggplants or the red peppers this year. I pulled up the zucchini and squash plants - sprawling and sagging all over the place like a series of Andy Warhol medusas - and threw them on the compost pile. A new batch of lettuce and snap peas is coming up. Am going to go hunting the neighborhood for piles of manure to dig in for next spring - no, really: me, the truck, and a shovel - so I don't have to buy it in bags from Home Depot. I'm already thinking about what to do differently next year.
Speaking of orangish, hunting season will start up again. Men with guns in orange vests. Ahh, life in a red state (or I guess now PA is more in the pink). And speaking of guns, it has been suggested to me that I learn how to shoot. Not to kill poor Bambi or her mama, but to have some line of self-defense when the barn-burning ATV boys come hooting and hollering and I'm all by my lonesome. This may not be such a crazy idea. I'll think on it.
Spring and fall are the heavy-duty chore seasons in the country. In the next few weeks, we'll need to chop wood and rake leaves and plant any shrubs or trees we want to start blooming in the spring (lilac is my priority this year - although I'm gun shy, so to speak, after Ella's sad passing). Need to get the chimney cleaned out, the furnace serviced, and probably take a look at insulating the pipes that froze last winter. Maybe consider purchasing a snow-blower - not that I have any godly idea what a snow-blower IS or how it WORKS, but it's on my list-of-things-to-research. I also need a good pair of winter boots and probably a heavy-duty winter coat (my city-girl leather coat is not quite what the doctor ordered). Sigh. All the things I put off last winter because I wanted to get a better sense of what I really needed; and now I have to figure out how to afford all of it.
But it's all good. I love autumn so much, it's impossible to express in plain words. No wonder there are so many poems about autumn. Think I'll go dig some up - stay tuned.
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