The air and the days suddenly, seeping..ly become autumnal. It happens overnight practically and in the following dawning of the next day I can feel autumn. It holds an excitement, a mystery, a dying...yet also an awakening. Thoughts of cool autumn mornings, walking through mounds of jewel coloured leaves and golden grasses, their damp sodden fragrance disturbed and drifting upwards to reach my nose causing me to lift up my head, left and then right to breathe in the cool wet-feeling air and as a consequence catch sight and sound of a flock of geese, honking, flying in their ragged 'V' formation across the pearl-grey skies.
Snatches of past autumn days burst into my mind - always the overwhelming smell of rotting-down leaves, pungent and earthy and brackish pervading each scene. Remembering a particular road in the late afternoon now. I'm by a run of small grey-black shops to my right, they are set back from the road, a long pavement away from the line of gold and orange leaves gathering in the drain-wells. That grey ribbon of a roadside running down to meet the main thoroughfare and opposite me as I see the junction ahead another bank of houses and a news-agency shop up a short slight incline. The lights are on inside and there is a feeling of pleasance, and there is an air of school over for the day, home beckoning. A day when illness has presented me with a hiatus away from work, I am waiting for a chemist to fulfill a prescription I've been given by the doctor just up the road. How many times have I been here, in this spot, waiting...? Long ago when 'S' was small and I used to call here, coming into the chemist's shop to buy tiny elastic toys for her hair, little elastic bands of bright colours with tiny kittens attached or baubles attached that I used to fasten-up the plaits we put in her long hair each day. These scenes replay, over and over, taking me to this place, bringing me back, over and over.
8 comments:
Hello Jane:
This is a wonderful evocation of autumn, a time of year we much enjoy, as well as a trigger to recall past times. You write with such feeling and tenderness and with a clarity that transports us to that chemist's shop and we too see a small child choosing coloured slides for her hair.
Beautiful, Jane. And such a lovely tree photo, too. (P.S. I'm really fond of Diane Ackerman's writing, and have most of her books.) xo
Lovely response to a very thought provoking quote.
You've really caught the essence of autumn - the sense of nostalgia and slight melancholy. Lovely lyrical writing.
Dear Jane, i love this pst. I can taste Autumn in the air through your words. You are a ;ady after my own heart, i too love the smell & sound & stillness of Autumn. The drawing in, the expectancy. My most favourite time of year, i am in my heart an Autum child. Hoping u are well treasure x
You described Autumn perfectly Jane. Even though we live in totally different countries, some things are still very similar. I live at almost 5000' above sea level, so Autumn comes quickly and then winter is upon us. Because our irrigation depends on the snow-pack in the mountains around us, we generally are anxious to have an early snowfall (sometimes as early as October 15th) I like the winters best when we get our snow in November and december, rather than Jan. and Feb, because then I feel I can be more assured of being able to water the lawn and gardens in the summer to come. When it comes late, I always worry that it may not come or that we will not have enough.
I love the stillness I feel in the Fall. Like things are slowing and readying for a long sleep.
Enjoy this season dear Jane and I will do the same.
many hugs from here...
Very evocative piece of writing, Jane. Fall is my favorite time of year and you've captured these opening days so well.
Love the Diane Ackerman quote.
Oh Jane, you imagery goddess! You inspire in me a longing for autumn. Here, on the U.S. east coast, she is teasing, throwing a bone every so often, offering a night of open windows here and there.
“It holds an excitement, a mystery, a dying...yet also an awakening.” Some adore spring. Me, I’m an autumn girl too.
Your words excite and inspire. The word “brackish,” for instance. Can you believe I even read a blog post on the word?! http://thewritepractice.com/brackish-words-on-wednesdays/
Your autumn memory is chock-full of life, brimming with color.
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