An Almost Autumn Day

 

     September came and went.  I did not post a thing on this blog. 

That doesn’t mean I did not write anything.  I wrote nine articles for The Armenian Weekly as part of my coverage of the Annual Armenian Youth Federation Olympics which were held in my hometown of Detroit.  It was the 90^th edition of the athletic and social weekend that is a large part of my Armenian life.  I may yet post a few of the articles I wrote for the Weekly.

When the calendar flipped to October, I half vowed to post here every day this month.  Here it is the 3^rd of the month, and I am just posting.

It was a wonderful warm early Fall day here.  The sky was pure cloudless azure, and the air had the subtle golden glow of that I only perceive this time of year.  I had the top down and tooling about town enjoying the day, the drive, and meandering my way to Lake Michigan.  When I made it to the bluff overlooking the lake, I was taken by the setting with the sky, the lake, and leaves just starting to take photos.  I was compelled to take photos and now to share them here.

 

     I read recently, in the Chicago Tribune, that the colors this Fall might be delayed and dulled this year.  The leaves may go from green to brown without hitting the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows that make for a glorious Fall.  The article blamed this phenomenon on global warming and a very dry September.  As Fall is my favorite season, I sure hope this doesn’t happen.  If it does, I hope it is not a trend.  Global warming has essentially transformed winter here in Chicago.  I would hate to see fall be diminished as well.

If the Fall colors dull and the temperature transition to Winter dampens, we can still experience Fall the good old corporate way.  All things pumpkin spice and Halloween have been available in stores for a month now.  With each passing year, more and more people decorate for Halloween as they do for Christmas.  I have seen more 20-foot skeletons and blow-up characters on lawns than ever.  All this is fine, I suppose, as it makes people happy.  I have one pumpkin spice latte a year and have yet to do so this year.  I am waiting for the first frost.  I guess I am just ‘old school.’

This all being said, today felt like a fall day albeit on the warm side.

Speaking of ‘old scholl,’ what do writers and poets have to say about this grand season?

“The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn, And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn.” — James Whitcomb Riley, “When the Frost is on the Punkin”

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!” — Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby”

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” — Albert Camus