I love October. I love everything about it.
I love the crisp temperatures, watching the leaves change colors, turning yellow and red and purple as the month marches on. I love wearing sweatshirts. I love that quick tinge of chill in the air as the sun sets.
I love scuffling my feet thru the piles of crunchy leaves. I even love RAKING the leaves.
I love the fall flowers...the bronze or dusky dark purple mums are my favorites. I love the fall weeds; the milk weed pods and the Joe Pye Weed and the Goldenrod. I love the colors - the deep oranges and the purples.
I love the pumpkins, piled up at Farmer's Markets or grinning wickedly at the world from the front stoops.
I love the football games and the marching bands and the Fall Festivals, with the huge boxes of apples in the markets. Honey Crisp! Braeburn! Pink Lady! Sun Crisp! Mutsu! How can you NOT buy a pound of an apple named Honey Crisp?
I love that my son Timmy was born in October, 2 days before Halloween. I was home from the hospital in time to watch my son Josh the Dinosaur go off into the night with his Dad to Trick or Treat. I sat in my rocker on the porch, handing out candy and peeks at the new baby to the little goblins and witches who came to my door.
I love Halloween. I love the danger tinged darkness contrasted with the bright safety of the house. I love the jack-o-lanterns and the SMELL of the pumpkin mixed with the burning wax. I love the costumes and the spookiness of it all.
But my love for October is always edged with a little what...Regret? Sadness? It's a Bittersweet month for sure.
October is such a visual reminder that Time is passing by. The farmer's fields are empty of growing things, full of broken corn stalks. The leaves fall faster and faster - Some trees are already standing with their arms naked and stark against the white sky. Farmer's Markets are shuttering their open windows against the chill and the wind.
My Dad's birthday is in October. I used to send him birthday boxes of warm socks or a new book and a big bag of those Peanut Butter Kisses, the chewy taffy with the peanut butter in the middle, in the orange and black wrappers. He loved those.
This morning I drove to work in the dark and after November 4, I'll be driving home in the dark as well. I love that Scott gets home from work first, so that I'm not coming home to a dark, empty house.
I think those peanut butter things are called Mary Jane's. They were always my favorite part. October is the best. Winter's too cold, and we spend the days bundled up inside anyway. Summer's too hot to enjoy anything, and Spring feels too fresh and new to be real. Fall is the best because the weather is so nice, and the trees are so colorful - but the whole thing is underscored by the slight chill of approaching winter - the bite that tells us to hurry up and appreciate what we have, because it's not going to last. Also apple cider.
ReplyDeleteMary Jane's are the small rectangular hard candies with the yellow and orange wrappers. Peanut Butter Kisses are the ones that come in the orange and black wrappers. October IS the best of all months - it's one last Hurrah! before the nasty of winter.
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