Wherefore Art Thou?

From my journal: September 27, 2022, Newbury Park, California

“Another HOT day on the horizon..in the 90s…hopefully only a couple more scorcher days, ugh!”

Looking at the weathered vines and root remnants in our raised beds this morning, I smiled remembering the bounty of goodness that came from our sown seeds.  Zukes, cukes, beets, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce all graced our table these past few months. What could be more nutritious and delicious than home grown produce?  Planting season is year-round here, so I am contemplating what our winter garden will hold.

Besides the waning of our summer plants, I’ve noticed the days are slightly shorter, and I know the calendar tells me that fall officially began on September 22nd, but alas, it has not arrived. I know this because I feel a longing.  A longing for the gradual coolness that creeps in, invigorating my senses. The crisp air that fills my lungs with liveliness, and the excitement that accompanies the promise of a new season, bringing with it, a fresh start.

Like Juliet, I find myself asking, “Autumn, oh autumn! Wherefore art thou, oh autumn?”

Knowing I can not change the weather or usher my favorite season in sooner, I will do the only thing I can do, and that is, wait.  And while I am doing so, I will temper my yearning by reading quotes that will keep me looking forward to what I know will unfold, in its own time.  If you are waiting too, please join me in savoring the words of these astute observers who capture the essence of fall so well, as we anticipate the wonder of what is yet to come.

“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.” – William Cullen Bryant

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” – Emily Bronte

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Autumn colors remind us we are all one, dancing in the wind.” – Lorin Morgan-Richards

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” – L.M. Montgomery

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.” – Jim Bishop

“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns.” – George Eliot

“No spring or summer beauty hath such grace, as I have seen in one autumnal face.” – John Donne

“Autumn…the time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale!” – Lauren DeStefano

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

“It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it.” – Diana Gabaldon

“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.” – Unknown

“Swinging on delicate hinges the autumn leaf almost off the stem.” – Jack Kerouac

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” – Faith Baldwin

“A tangerine and russet cascade of kaleidoscopic leaves, creates a tapestry of autumn magic upon the emerald carpet of fading summer.” – Judith A. Lindberg

“Listen! The wind is rising and the air is wild with leaves, we had our summer evenings, now for October eves!” – Humbert Wolfe

Ah, saying good-bye to summer is always a parting of such sweet sorrow, but I can’t wait to welcome autumn…hopefully tomorrow.