I live on Long Island, the southeastern most part of NY State.  I have lived here all my life.  When I was in middle school, I dreaded going to school, but the fall season was so intoxicating that I actually looked forward to school starting.  Yes, there was school and homework, but the freedom more than made up for it.  After school tackle football, or just a walk around town to eat junk food and buy comics.  Even better were the girls. I could just hang out after school with no worries as long as I returned home by 6 pm.

I was brought up with religion in my household and the Jewish religion takes special notice of the changing of the seasons and the importance of the harvest.  So there are holidays that celebrate the coming new year, the importance of Harvest, and just good old remembrance of the ancients and their covenant with their maker.  Add to those, apple and pumpkin picking, activities widely available around where I live.  Then Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other days here and there that make the Fall seem magical and special.

My job was to rake leaves, and we had tons of them.  I loved to make giant piles to jump in and spent hours just playing in the leaves. It was more than the fun of the jumping into a soft pile, it was the smell and the slight chill in the air, it made the time fleeting and in a blink of your eyes, the trees were bare and all the leaves were gone.  The colors of the leaves gave a burst of chromatic splendor like nature’s perfect art project and, in a few weeks’ time, all gone!

Autumn allows for both cool days to wear your favorite hoodie and clothing you have been waiting a year to wear, and days to break out the shorts and tee-shirts and run around like it’s summertime again.  Out come your stylish boots and hip jackets, Fall style is most people’s favorite.  We open our windows at night to let the fresh cool air in. After a brutally hot Summer, it’s a welcome change.  Many people flock to Upstate New York in Fall, the famous foliage brings travelers from around the world to witness the change.  The early settlers from Europe thought that the Hudson Valley looked like Heaven and the fall colors ware Heaven’s chorus.

Autumn is the harvest season around here and the produce is amazing!  Local tomatoes, corn, peppers, squash, pumpkins, and so much more; it’s impossible to list them all.  My backyard garden yields it’s bounty and my family and I celebrate it’s large bounty.  Months are spent processing and canning as much of the harvest as possible so we can enjoy them all year.  The abundance of fall and harvest festivals have always gladdened me.  The essential need to be aware of the season and be present of it’s abundant gifts.  Soon we all know that Winter will come and the warmth and earthiness of fall must yield to the march of the seasons and the delicate dance of the Earth and the Sun.

Each morning I take a moment to breathe in the fresh fall air.  Like drinking a rare wine, this moment will fade into time, but the exquisite nature of the perfect moment will be there for the rest of my days.  My home is far from perfect. Like me, it’s always going to be “A Work in Progress,” but this is the holy shrine because this is where my life is happening.  In fact, nothing is out of place - it’s perfect and the memory of it will make me strong for the rest of the days gifted to me.  I must yield to time, but I desire to be present every moment I have. 

So Fall is here, enjoy it now, the season cycle is turning!