Autumnal Equinox

Happy Fall!!!

It's here already, the first day of fall or Autumnal Equinox .  Many of you will celebrate the change of season; while others dread what the fall brings with it.  In just a few short months fall will turn to the dreaded, winter.  I for one love the fall season; although here is Socal the only change is light.  The shadows are longer, and the days are shorter; but the temperatures still remain at the top of the thermometer.  I long for the fresh bite in the air that lives now only in my memory.  Having grown up and lived much of my adult life in Canada; fall means cooler temps, cleaning up the yard, getting the house ready for winter and enjoying the color of Mother Nature.  

Fall was always my favorite season; a time when you could go for long walks without sweating.  When the dogs displayed an added bounce in their step and the pesky bugs were ending.  I love Fall.  Here in Socal it means that cooler nights will be coming.  They aren't here yet but I was able to turn the A/C off last night.  We are expecting temperatures up in the 90s again this weekend, ugh!  There will be cooler daytime temperatures coming but we have to wait for them for a while.

The ingrained sense of wrapping up is still with me and  I cannot shake it.  Chopping down the flowers that were once amazing blooms.  Cutting the wilted plants that have been stung by the impending pre-winter frost.  Storing bikes, wheel barrows, garden tools and summer toys away for hibernation.   Summer was fleeting back then.  Now it is almost like a never ending summer but I still go through the motions, I have to.  

I remember my dogs following me around the yard.  We spent hours upon hours outside, cleaning up.  They loved it as much as I did.  While I burned broken branches in the bonfire pit; they grabbed fallen sticks here and there.  Preparation for winter was big but enjoyable.  There were a few years that we even got our Christmas lights up before the frigid temperatures and snow were upon us.  

Yesterday I started  my yard clean up.  Something I prepare for now, is rain.  We are suppose to get a lot of it this winter and I sure hope that we do.   We need it desperately.  So I was up on the ladder cleaning gutters.  What a messy, messy job but I love it.  Elsa brought her ball to me and lay it by the bottom of the ladder.  I smiled and told her that I couldn't reach it.  Of course I'd climb down every once in a while to toss it for her.  

After a couple of hours of gutter cleaning, I needed cleaning.  Elsa and I will be spending a great deal of time in the yard for the next couple of weeks.  The yard will be tended to; wrapped up for the winter.  Even if the winter is not really coming here to us; in my head and heart it is still time to wrap up for hibernation.