The Seasons Roll On

September is a hard month for me. It is a sad month caught between a fading summer and a not yet glorious fall. It is beautiful, but it is the desperate beauty of a world shutting down. The sun rises later and later and I'm back to dressing in the dark in the mornings. The flowers seem to be trying to put forth one last burst of glory before they die. The nostalgia that almost overwhelms me in the fall starts to build now.

Autumn blooming crocuses.

White anemones.

Dahlias still hanging on.

There are unhappy anniversaries in September. The eleventh is a somber day. A day when the world changed in an instant. I remember sitting and staring at the computer monitor in disbelief and weeping as the towers crumbled. The days that followed are a blur of news broadcasts full of agonizing images that still haunt. We wondered how something like this could happen to us. It marked the beginning of changes that still ripple through our society, our nation. It started waves of legislation enacted by a government attempting to take control by taking away some of our liberties in order to protect us. It awakened us to the violence of a world full of nations that hate us and have vowed to destroy us. For many that day marks the end of an era of ignorant innocence.

There was a bright spot on that dark day, my sister Mindy gave birth to her seventh child, her only daughter, my niece Elisabeth. Then seven years later, on September 17th, Mindy lost her long battle with cancer. My memories of the days before and after Mindy’s death are bittersweet. Many of us gathered there to be with her as she passed and it was good to be together. It was good to see Mindy finally at rest and free from pain. But it was hard to say good-bye even so. I still miss her. I always will. Knowing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the covenants we’ve made will allow us to be together again is such a blessing. It takes away some of the pain of separation and gives us a bright hope.

The week seemed long to me. Sarah and Tosh left on Tuesday. I was in school for a half day in the morning that day and when I came home they were gone and the house seemed so empty. It was so nice having them here. It went by too quickly. Wednesday I was in school all day, a long day. For most of the week the weather was cool and a bit gloomy and that made things seem slow.

I’m reading an excellent book, a biography of Patrick Henry, the Founding Father, Lion of Liberty by Harlow Giles Unger. Despite all my studies of American history, I only had a scant knowledge of Patrick Henry. Most history books mention his “Give me liberty, or give me death" speech. Some mention that he was also the first governor of the newly created state of Virginia. That’s about all I knew. In reading this book I’m impressed by what a great man he was, a champion and defender of liberty, a man as great as his contemporaries Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. In many ways, I like Patrick Henry’s beliefs regarding government and liberty more than any other founding father. After the Revolution, when it came time to adopt the Constitution, he was an ardent Anti-federalist. He thought the Constitution as first presented was too vague in many important ways. It didn’t establish term limits for the president or congressman. It didn’t contain a Bill of Rights. He fought to have those included in the final draft and he was successful. Even then he feared the erosion of states’ rights. He foresaw the danger in creating a government that had too much power, that would grow too large and eventually cease to protect our liberty in favor of private interests. He was right. We are living in the country he warned us of. This is a great book and I recommend it.

The harvest continues at our house. Last week I blanched and froze more broccoli. Sarah, Tosh and I picked and juiced the first of many batches of elderberries. I grated and froze zucchini for making bread later in the winter. I canned pickled beets. We have a bushel of pears we bought from the Amish ripening on the back porch and will can them some time this week. I love harvest time.

Onions ready for storage.

Josiah power-washing the front of the house.

Saturday was the Fall Festival in Ulysses. It was a chilly, gloomy day with rain off and on all day. Josiah was involved in several events. He helped man the Boy Scout Bake Sale booth in the morning. In the afternoon he was in the parade with the high school band. Stacey, Hannah, and I went to the parade. It rained most of the time, but the parade went on anyway. Our parades are pretty modest affairs. We had Veterans in the vanguard followed by the mayor in her Mustang, a few floats pulled by tractors, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the band, and fire trucks at the end.

Veterans in the vanguard.

The mayor.

A float.

The band.

Fire trucks.

We relented on Saturday and lit the wood stove. It's the first it's been lit since April. The house was too damp and chilly. We had to do it. Today is a lovely autumn day, sunny and cool. After church we drove Hannah back to college and the drive from Alfred home was gorgeous. The sky was deep blue and dotted with white clouds. The goldenrod and asters along the roads and in the fields are at their peak now. Soon the mountains will be bright with turning leaves. So much beauty and far too brief.

Pink sedum.