Fall, Autumn, the Season following Summer, preceding Winter

I am slightly envious of the many people who applaud the coming of Autumn or Fall as I seem to label it.  I wrote a post a few years ago bemoaning Fall with all the falling leaves and temperature.  But so many people love this time of year.  The colours, the cooler days and ????  Excuse me but what else is there.  And I am not all that excited about orange and brown or about being cold or even chilly.  Give me a good old sweat any day over shivering and having to layer until the bit of body shape I may have had is now one massive covering of woollies.

Truthfully, for this pessimist, the dread starts June 21, knowing the days are starting to get shorter.  I get over that for 6 weeks or so as I continue to enjoy the sunshine, the flowers, the grass, family times.  Then mid-August the feeling begins, a heaviness, a sadness.  By the beginning of September it is full-blown!  This year was somewhat improved over past Labour day weekends because the JD Salesman and I did an overnighter, checking out Writing-on-Stone provincial park.  But Labour day always reminds me of the treks across Saskatchewan, on into Manitoba to leave our friends, our becoming adult kids at college.  It broke our hearts every time we made that journey.  The memory of that dread still overwhelms me at times.

Then there is the leaving of the sun.  I have another memory of coming out the back door of the junior high building at Delburne.  The angle of the sun in the southern noon-hour sky is still vivid in my mind.  Fall was on the way.  Even then the heaviness started to settle in on me.

Okay, after all that whining and negativity you might think I may as well dig a cave and stay there until spring.  (never thought of that before!).  I don't like fall but I love life, the life we have here, the life with the bestest JD Salesman ever.  Well, I don't really care about the sales part but this Man is the Bestest!  We have three fantastic kids with their amazing spouses and now nine grandkids who all love us too.  So life is great.

And I have learned to cope.  My intake of vitamin D increases, I attempt to connect with people regularly, and the quilting projects take shape.  If I am in need of a 'fix' I drag out the pile of quilting books or the piles of fabric.  Sometimes that is as far as I get but often the piles of fabric become piles of strips, squares and rectangles.  And then, then the fun of sewing can begin.  The darker evenings are conducive to a cup of coffee and a good story in my favourite chair.

So, I shall more than survive another Fall.  I will be okay but I still envy those who enjoy this season of the year…...