Friday, September 18, 2009

Fall in New England

(written by my friend Heather on her Live Journal - simple, but I liked it, and felt it.)

Aw early fall. The last remnants of the summer's raspberries, the last few roof and stoop nights, the approaching dusk. Breaking out the hoodies and leggings, cider and pumpkin pie, foliage and apple picking. Tomato season, kale season, squash season.

This time of year, more than any other, always feels like a new beginning. This year is no different.

It is very possible that September is my favorite month.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Chill

Today felt cold! Actually cold! Well... okay, I'll qualify that. I was fine outside walking through Boston (another interview) in a dress, leggings, tall leather boots, and a jacket. But now, inside, changed and in socks, my toes are holding a bit of a chill. It's supposed to hang around 60 tomorrow, too.

Yesterday and the day before, it was Indian Summer, in the 70s, with golden sun filtering through mostly green leaves. On Monday morning, I went to a job interview, then strolled down to the Public Garden. Knowing I might be leaving for New York (for a job) has made me appreciate Boston's beauty - the openness, the gardens that shamelessly ape those of London, with formal circles of roses and small, fanning palms. I sat watching old men, mothers, babies, students, and dogs - especially one squirrel-obsessed mutt named ralph. I felt like a grownup impostor in my brand-new suit, but the sun was warm and the breeze was nice.

Yesterday was even better. I took a book and my water bottle and went to the duck pond in Wellesley. It's different now from when I was a child - fewer fences, and the paths have been allowed to grow in some, narrower and wild. Part of the effort for the natural includes a ban on feeding. Although the adult, rational environmentalist in me is glad for the ducks and geese, I viscerally miss bringing stale heels to lure the quackers. It seems like there are fewer of them, now, though it might just be that they don't come out to the human areas as much.  I walked around to the back, and sat on the stone overlook, watching the ducks and the sun in the trees. Meditating, but with worse posture. Afterwards, I climbed my favorite tree, nestled in the lower limbs, and read a few pages. A small child (too small for the tree) wanted to come up and climb, but her father said, "There's already somebody in that tree; let's go find some duckies." What a good afternoon. Jeans and a sweater and sneakers and bark. The way life's meant to be.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Fall! Mmmm.... crispy

It's September! My favorite time of the year. An ode to crispness: apple-picking (though this year I'll be smart and not saddle my boyfriend with it - he is, after all, allergic to apples), stiff breezes, and orange leaves. Even though I'm not in school anymore, I still think of it as the real start of the year, the time for a new lease on life. Probably that's part having teachers for parents, part my secret inner Jew. Today is a beautiful day - in the sixties, fluffy white clouds, sweater and jeans weather. I just got back from an extended lunch outdoors, and have an urge to put on one more layer and go on a tramp through some conservation ground. I don't see Labor Day as the last gasp of summer - it's the beginning of short, precious, golden autumn.

Funny, even though my life has very little definition now, except for that of emailed resumes (and an interview next week!), the change in the weather still makes me new.

Also, I finally figured out my novel.