Leaves on the Lawn, Dressing in the Dark, and Other Signs of the Season

Sometimes nature gives us a gift. Last week, in the last days of summer, we were given a few days of perfect summer weather. The days were sunny. The temperature rose into the 80's. We even had a nice thunderstorm. We don’t often get weather like that. It was a parting gift from the summer of 2019 and I appreciated it. It didn’t last long, of course. By the weekend we were rainy and chilly again. It feels like fall now.

I spent every moment possible outdoors during that wonderful weather. I planted more bulbs. I cleaned out more sections of the garden. I trimmed and deadheaded plants, hoping, if we get a bit of Indian Summer, that they’ll give me a few more flowers before the end comes.

It’s mid-September and the trees are turning fast. We’ve come to the days when our lawn will be covered with leaves. I’ll be back to mowing twice a week, but to mow up leaves, not cut the grass. The green is going out of the world now. It isn’t just the changing trees. The hay fields have been cut for the last time and are stubbly and brown, as are the grain fields. They are starting to cut the corn, so those swaths of green will be gone soon too. The predominant color along the roadsides is the vivid yellow of the goldenrod. I think it is more abundant and more beautiful this year than I’ve ever seen.

I realized one morning last week, that I was dressing in the dark again. I have to turn on a light now to avoid committing a fashion faux pas. I see needing to turn a light on to dress in the mornings as a benchmark in the year’s progression. Even when we turn the clocks back in November it will still be dark enough to necessitate turning a light on to dress. It will stay that way until some happy morning in late March of next year.

I noticed another sign of the season last week – wooly bears – the caterpillars of the Isabella Sphinx Moth. I noticed one crossing the road one day, and then by the end of the week I saw some every time I was out and about. According to folklore, the longer the black bands are on the wooly bears, the more severe the winter will be. I hope that’s true because the ones I’ve seen so far are mostly orange.

This weekend we all went down to the Thayn’s house. Hannah and Josiah drove down on Thursday evening. It is time for Josiah to go back to college and he was flying out of Pittsburgh and he wanted to spend some time with the Thayns before he left. Stacey and I drove down on Friday after work.

Josiah leaving to go back to college.

On Saturday we all went to the Highland Festival in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. It was raining hard when we got there, but the rain stopped soon after and we had a great time. There were a lot of people there – many of them wearing kilts. There were fiddlers, and harpists, and bagpipers, and singers performing in various parts of the park. There were booths set up by the various clans. There was a pavilion for showing Scottish dog breeds – that was a lot of fun. We watched the hammer throw and caber toss competitions. The best part of the day was the parade in the main field when the clans marched in and then the dogs. Then the bagpipe bands marched onto the field and it got even better. We had a great time. I hope we go again next year.

A harp competition.

Petting a Scottish terrier.

The hammer throw - note the hammer in midair.

The Scottish dog breed parade.

The bagpipers.

The caber toss.

Hazel is on a soccer team and had a game on Saturday afternoon, so part of our party left the Highland Festival and went to watch her play. We all gathered back at the Thayn’s for lunch and then it was time to say good-bye to Josiah. Tabor took him to the Pittsburgh Airport where he caught a flight to Utah. He spent the night there with Geoffrey and family and then made his way up to Rexburg on the shuttle today. His classes start tomorrow. We’ll miss him while he’s gone.

Saturday evening we celebrated Hazel’s seventh birthday. Her birthday isn’t until the 20th, but since we were all there, we wanted to celebrate early. In the evening we worked on rebuilding the deck on the back of the Thayn’s house. We didn’t finish, but we got a good start. Tabor and Rachel will have to finish it on their own.

Working on the deck.

Hazel's birthday party.

Today we went to church in the Thayn’s ward. After church we had lunch and then played a few games and then it was time to come home again.

Driving home across the state, I marveled, as I always do, at the beauty of Pennsylvania. The mountains are starting to show some fall colors. The fields are dazzling with goldenrod and asters. The roadsides in some places are ablaze with brilliant red sumac.

Now we’re home again. The day is done. The weekend is done. We had a great time together. I wonder when we will do it again.