The Most Wonderful Time of Year
Summer has never been my favorite season. It’s too hot in Kentucky and if it wasn’t for a few highlights like vegetable gardens and swimming pools, I could probably just skip the whole thing. Fear not though because with Labor Day arriving the calendar takes a positive turn. Autumn approaches and with that comes the start of another hunting season, camping trips, football tailgating and cool mornings. The biggest problem we seem to have is how to fit it all into our schedules.
This weekend I am going frogging on Friday night, goose hunting on Sunday morning and we might throw in a squirrel hunt on Monday if we are really ambitious. Next weekend there is more goose hunting, the annual dove hunt and a polo match. And September is still just getting started. Our local football teams are expected to have great seasons and this time of year you can almost smell hot dogs cooking in stadium parking lots.
What I love so much about the changing seasons is the sense of newness they bring. When the weather cools we can open our windows again, literally bringing fresh air into our lives. We look at all those wonderful empty boxes on our calendars and begin to fill them with social events and outdoor pursuits. My hunting gear will get a final prep and all will be ready for the months ahead.
As regular readers know, hunting season is a big deal for me. It dominates my life for over half of the year. There is so much I love about getting back out in the field. The optimism that comes with new plans, lessons learned from the previous year, new equipment and new locations to explore. Better yet, it is a chance to reconnect with my hunting partners and to renew the sense of teamwork that we work so hard to build each year.
In this time I cannot help but feel blessed to even have the opportunity for the kind of spiritual renewal that comes with the changing seasons. Many people have lives that are too difficult to be affected by something as simple as the onset of autumn, so it’s fitting that we end it with a national holiday that calls for thankfulness. 2013 has been a rough year for my family in some ways but in others we know we are very fortunate. Having an opportunity to switch gears is a pretty awesome gift and this new season gives us just that.
I’m thankfull that the temp will finally drop, even though it’s been cool by summer standards around here, especially the humidity.
But the turning of the leaves, the crispness in the air, that’s nice. Spring and Fall are my favorite times: the temp is low and the humidity lower. Paradise.Report
Autumn is beautiful here in the northwest. I regret that I won’t have a motorcycle this year to ride through the country and watch the leaves change.Report
I’m going to Seattle in Mid-October for the long weekend because I have not seen fall in 5 years!
San Francisco is always pretty cool (except from September-Thanksgiving) but it is never quite like fall. It is too warm for the leaves to change color and the air is cool but not crisp. In the Northeast, fall produces a nice crisp scent in the air like apples and roasting potatoes.
I’d live in almost perpetual October if I could.Report
“I’d live in almost perpetual October if I could.”
Amen!Report
Third. Well, I’d take a week of low-humidity high summer and a week of teens-twenties snowy winter, but the rest of the time, give me early or mid October.Report
Of all the places I’ve lived, the Pacific Northwest has the best autumns, lasting a good three months with plenty of color that starts towards the end of August and lingers well into November. Spring too was wonderful.Report
Nice piece Mike. Fall is my favorite time of year as well. I missed it terribly when I lived in Southern California. It’s also always seemed appropriate to me that the Jewish New Year is in the fall because it coincides with the harvest season and the winding down of the old year. It is indeed a time of spiritual renewal.Report