Fall Creeping In

Woke up this morning to cooler temperatures and WIND, a sure sign of fall in these parts. Each portion of the country has its own sure signs, and in the Sierras, while knowing that it might not rain for two more months yet, there are still specific indications that fall is just around the corner. The leaves on the black locust trees are the first to turn, and they are already drifting off the trees and being kicked around by gusts. The light has taken on a different quality, now that it is no longer directly overhead, but sliding towards the angle of Autumnal Equinox, less than a month away. The greenery that once graced the landscape has long ago browned and is turning to dust, and the air smells like ripe blackberries, all signaling the end of summer.

It is also noteworthy that the early morning temperatures are lower, sometimes begging for a sweater even. I pass along the North Yuba River for a good twelve miles of my morning commute each day, and looked longingly at the water, wondering if it was already too late. Each year, somewhere along mid-September, I am hit with the realization that there will be no more swimming that particular year. It always leads to an afternoon of depression, and the slight dread that comes with thinking you might never get a certain chance again. The light will be off the water in such a way to make me realize that, while the water temperature may not have dropped significantly yet, the air temperature most certainly has, and getting into and out of the water would be decidedly uncomfortable.

The wind always reminds me that fall is the time when we get the worst forest fires, and there was one in the Sierra Valley last week. A friend who moved to southern Oregon this spring was evacuated, along with family and critters, from the path of a forest fire up there over the weekend, and there are many throughout the west right now... it is a dry, brittle, somewhat risky time, in a whole different way than for those poor people trying to recover from the massive hurricane down South. We have had a few close calls in the past nineteen years, including the time five years ago when the smoke was so thick in our yard that cinders floated by as we hosed down the side of the house, but I am grateful to have been so lucky over the years.

Our region usually can look forward to a long autumn, with very warm daytime temperatures, so I will probably get a little swimming in yet. There will probably still be a few days for outdoor picnics and a road trip or two. However, I am not sure I will get through my summer knitting list before having the compulsion to start something warm and snuggly instead. Jacket patterns are beginning to catch my eye.... what are you planning to knit for fall?