The First Dawn Of Autumn

First dawn of Autumn from N3 World Headquarters

By Ken DeLaat
​
​Granted, like most of my bipeninsular brothers and sisters, I truly love summer.
It’s the time when this region really comes out to play and admittedly we have  a rather impressive playground at our fingertips.
But nothing matches the all too short season we are about the embark on.
Yes, it is autumn, the glorious season of perpetual wonderment and intrigue. The time when each day brings a new look, a new perspective, a new understanding of the charm this transient span of spectacular days brings to the table.
Oh it’s not all fun and games mind you. Autumn in these parts can turn a bit nasty at times and the term ‘fall’ can be applied to drastic  drops in temperature, rain of epic proportions and a sneak preview or two of the colder and whiter form of precipitation yet to come.
And yet we are gifted with this  remarkable season of reflection and the contemplation of change that often rides along.
There isn’t the hunkering in we have with winter nor the anxious anticipation associated with spring.
And certainly not the frenzied fun-seeking pace of summer.
For sports enthusiasts hunting and fishing opportunities abound, football inundates the tube, baseball becomes relevant again with the playoffs beginning and hockey emerges from the 2 week sabbatical it takes from Stanley Cup to training camp.
Followers of  and participants in high school athletics have a smorgasbord of sports from soccer and cross country  to tennis, golf and, of course, football.
Pickleballers have begun to move inside to pursue their passion of the sport,
hiking is a much treasured pursuit during autumn and the river, while generally a bit too chilly for tubing, welcomes kayaks, canoes, and the occasional paddleboard.
But beyond the activities Autumn means meditation and musing. A time when you can see what change looks like and what change feels like from the lesson of transformation delivered by the climatic wonder surrounding us.
It is pure magic with a dollop of ecological dignity.
And perhaps  the most favored among the exquisite  quartet of seasonal offerings we bipeninsular bipeds embrace.
So, in celebration of it’s arrival  here are some quotes about this spellbinding season said by those much more articulate than I.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” -Albert Camus

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” -Laura DeStefano

“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face."-John Donne

"Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."-John Howard Bryant

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."- Nathaniel Hawthorne

“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.”-J.R.R. Tolkien

“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”-Lee Maynard