August 16, 2000  How do the trees know?
 

Yesterday, I stepped outside. I was fully intent on getting somewhere. I had a place to go and I had a plan.

I only made it ten steps. Something was so wrong, or so different about the world that I stopped dead in my tracks. I had no idea what it was. So I spun around and took in my surroundings. I noticed the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the air on my skin. I noticed a different color, and angle of sunlight. I remembered that it was August 14. Finally , I stopped spinning and sniffed the air. I sniffed left and right, and took shallow and deep breaths. There was that smell in the air. Yes, there is no doubt about it.

It is Autumn!

I said this to myself.  I proclaimed it to passers-by. I announced it at lunch.

No one seemed to catch the significance of it. I have always loved Autumn, but I am not even sure why I felt so overjoyed at it's coming. Maybe it is that I am tired from the Summer and ready for it to be over. Maybe it is that I am looking forward to some events of the Autumn. Maybe it is that I feel settled in here, like I have never been any place before, and in some ways, this is my first, ever, Autumn. Maybe it is just the beautiful day that yesterday was.

Yesterday was not the Autumn of nature packing up for the Winter. It was not the Autumn of dead and dying. Yesterday was the Autumn that is the ripe full fruit of Summer. It has taken nature a full season of hot days and big rain storms to produce this mild and sweet fruit that will last, but slowly fade into Winter. In a few weeks the leaves will be turning color, as the trees pack up their food for the Winter, but first there are apples and peaches to enjoy, and the ripe warm sun, and the crisp cool days.

Today, I heard some agreement. Nat came to me and said that it looked like I was right. He was convinced by the wind. Libbie was still skeptical,. She asked about the cool nights. I said she should wait one more day. (and as I am writing this actually in the 17th, I have to report that I was cold all night, and my hands were cold enough from typing that I started the first fire in he wood stove, since May) And driving to town yesterday, I saw that some trees had flags of orange and red.

That leaves me with one question. How do the leaves know? How do some leaves know before others? How do some branches know before others? How do some trees know before others? And how, how do the trees know that it is autumn anyway?

MiXiM