October has most definitely arrived. The Red Sox are neck-in-neck with Cleveland in baseball, the Patriots are sweeping football nation in relentless attacks, and I’m trying to understand the passion without getting too close. I mean really, how do you avoid becoming a product of your environment while you’re trying so desperately to squeeze out the unique qualities of your surroundings? It seems impossible when everyone around you is a fanatic of some sort.
Just call me hum drum Рalthough sports are enjoyable, the things I take pleasure in may seem more of a simplistic variety. I could sit for hours studying the behavior of my birds, squirrels, and stray cats. I thoroughly enjoy going to a quaint costal town and poking through their artisan shops Рwith no intentions of buying anything. Carrying around a camera for photo opportunities almost seems clich̩ out here Рeveryone expects a good photograph, but each one has already been taken Рwalk through two or three galleries and see for yourself.
With fall comes many changes. My music selection alters, the closet takes on a renewed priority, hot drinks replace the iced, the sun sinks earlier to provoke premature sleepiness, and my bed heavies down with thicker comforters. Outside, the animals are desperately searching for food to hide away, the crisp, morning air sends fog in flight over the many lakes and rivers, and there is fullness in remembering days past … a deep longing for family and friends to share in the new moments.
I suppose New England has a flavor of its own. Although winter is just around the corner, the festivities parade on, the brave squeeze in another camping trip, and the children glow with anticipation of apple-picking, pumpkin carving, and leaf peeping. Soon winter will arrive, my bones will cry out in frigid agony, and I will regret every time I have to leave the warming comfort of home to venture forward. Then the snow will fall, heavily. And the air will take on a crunchy sensation. The stars will be brighter than before, occasionally masked by a puff of breath. And we will moan in complaint until we look around us and realize the beauty – the unwavering peacefulness of freshly fallen snow, the snapping of evergreens beneath the weight of the flakes, the crystal wonderland.
It’s like nothing else I’ve ever known..
