The Autumn Mosaic

Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes.

Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.

~Samuel Butler

As we close the month of September, I am realizing that autumn is upon us.  It is a colorful time of year, when my eyes drink in the brilliant foliage of our sugar maples and the red cheeks and brightly-colored coats of my children playing in the yard. Fall is the time when chilly morning conversations begin huddled around steaming mugs of dark coffee and end with walks in bright sunshine under the bluest sky. Leaves crunch beneath our feet. Flocks of birds fascinate us as they briefly light to snack in golden fields before continuing on their way to warmer weather.

In the garden, this is a time of abundance and of decay. We take proud photos of our harvest with the full knowledge that we pick the fruit from withering stems. In warmer places, this month signals an end to drought and the beginnings of rain. But in colder climes, we must plant to keep the landscape from fading past the red-gold to black and white and grey. We start lettuce, spinach, and radishes or bring our favorite plants indoors so that, as the autumn turns to winter, we can remind ourselves that green still exists.

Yet, despite the looming cold and killing frosts, the autumn gives us plenty to embrace. The first scent of wood smoke wafting from neighborhood chimneys. Hayrides and laughing children. The heavy coziness of winter bedding. Homecoming. Comfort food. Leaf piles to jump in. Pumpkins to choose and to carve. Warm clothes to pull out and pull on. Jeans, worn and comfortable. Clear skies and bright stars. And the colors – like the world has suddenly been unmasked – are glorious.

In celebration of Fall, I’d like to shine the BC spotlight on bloggers writing about how they experience the season. Their writing this week has helped me to appreciate autumn as a time of transition and change, and of comfort and beauty.

I hope you, too, will get acquainted with…

Trixie and George at Farm Home Life for whom the chillier weather is a signal to pause for reflection.

Thomas at A Growing Tradition, who shows us that autumn is all about color.

The Crafty Gardener, who just can’t get enough of Wooly Bears! (My children love them, too!)

Robin at the Bumblebee blog, for whom Fall is about bittersweet goodbyes, taking stock, and living a good life.

Daphne at Daphne’s Dandelions, who has noticed walking sticks and raspberries… and acorns (at last!)

Maribeth at Dackel Princess, whose apples and growing pups make a reader feel happy. She says, “I cannot believe how quickly time is going by.” I have to agree.

And, Mimi at Our Family Attic whose Halloween Cocoa touched with Pumpkin Spice is my new favorite thing.  You, Mimi, are a lady of taste.

So many BC bloggers are writing about autumn.  Are you?

Written by Julia Kelly, a BlogCatalog Blogger Advocate
http://midwestmoms.blogspot.com/
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