September 23, 1997 The weather has suddenly swung from clear, bright and cool to a lowering sky with a threat of rain, which will no doubt further cool off the atmosphere. People have started scurrying about in hip-length jackets, as if to either encourage the Fall weather to arrive, or simply because they're cold. A phenomenon which I still do not understand after living in Massachusetts for 4 years. I'm not breaking out my jacket until late October, not down here. I will carry my umbrella to ward off torrential rain-showers from hurricane season. But this is the time of year and the weather that I wait for with anticipation, all year. The time when I can run about in a light shirt and pants or a skirt and feel comfortable without shivering or sweating, and when the air is as clear as the sound of a bell so that I can breathe in and out in great lungsfuls without impediment or fear of drowning from the humidity. There's something both exciting, mysterious and depressing as well as uplifting about Autumn. It's my favorite season to be sure. Why IS it that my favorite season is a season of closings and endings? The leaves give out their dying gasps in glorious color, giving meaning to that whole concept of going out in a blaze of glory. The flowers of the season dazzle, marigolds and chrysanthemums, all bright and bold colors which slowly fade into brown as winter's icy fingers tighten their grasp ont he world. Spring is a time of beginnings. I do enjoy those wild and warm March storms where it rains and rains and rains but you can stand out in it in a shirt and shorts and just enjoy the sheer wildness of it. My biggest impression of Spring though, is wetness. And as the sun climbs higher and higher in the sky, that wetness combines with heat, in this area to make stew out of the air. Summer, I hate because of all that sweat and the stale smells. Fruits are growing and maturing at that time of year, yet my feeling from the season is not expectancy but a background dread, a sense of rotten-ness and putrefaction which is only escaped in the cold breezes of Autumn. I recently threw open all of the windows of the apartment and turned off the A/C definitively for the rest of the year. Letting the fresh air in, was like cleaning house. It washed in, seeking out every nook and cranny, carrying out all of the summer's musty odors and dank cobwebs. Perhaps, Fall is a symbol of closure. It's a time of wrapping things up in preparation for the coming new year. Or maybe it's just that I tend to start things in the Fall, school, relationships, big projects. Whatever it is, I do have a long-lasting affection for this season and all of its colors and flavors. I'll be out walking in the wind, with the leaves swirling about my feet for at least another month and a half. And I intend to enjoy it fully. Next Previous