Changing Seasons Bring Melancholy Feelings

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and in Northern Michigan and it’s one of the most beautiful.  The colors are something that people drive hundreds of miles to experience.  Years ago, my wife and I were visiting Hawaii and we met a woman who ran an art store on Maui. She had been born on Maui and had never been off the island.  I asked her if she were to travel, where in the world she would like to go. She replied that she wanted to visit the Midwest. Her answer almost knocked me over. Who wants to visit the Midwest when you have the whole world to choose from? When I asked her why, she said that she wanted to see the trees change color. Living her whole life in Hawaii, where it is always summertime, she had never seen anything but green! We feel fortunate to enjoy some beautiful days in October. We have friends who call these “bonus days” because we know that they are a brief extension of summer.  It’s wonderful to get outside when the sky is deep blue and the sun is shining through the rich colors of the oak and maple trees.  Soon we will rake up mountains of leaves and deposit them in the woods to recycle them back to nature. There will be a few more boat rides and some fall fishing and then the task of pulling the boat and dock out for storage. Fall can be a melancholy time of the year as it marks the end of one season and the beginning of another. This usually happens in November when we feel the chill of that first windy and rainy gray day.  Many of our neighbors have either already left or are planning on leaving for someplace in the sunny south and we feel a bit abandoned. Walking down the empty road, I see dock sections piled up along the shore and pontoon boats cocooned in plastic to protect them from the elements.  Some of the shuttered cottages look lonely, their inhabitants gone for another season. On the bright side, we are about to enter a new season and I look forward to it.  There are several books I have wanted to read and now I’ll have the time. There are Friday night fish fries and pizzas at our favorite hangouts. The fireplace will crackle while we enjoy a movie borrowed from the library. We’ll whip up some cocoa or warm our hands and hearts with a mug of hot buttered rum. So bring on the snow, we’re ready!

 

< Prev		Next >