Fall comes despite the heat
“I love the fall. I love it because of the smells that you speak of; and also because things are dying, things that you don’t have to take care of anymore, and the grass stops growing.”
– Mark Van Doren
I was going to get some plants at Mizell’s yesterday and asked my neighbor if she wanted me to pick her up one and she said no way, everything is about to die. My allergies would tell you differently, there is something new growing that makes the edges of my face burn and my nose stopped up, something is growing somewhere.
I know the orange leaves on the crepe mean they will turn a blazing orange and then fall. Already the flower bed is mulched with fall colored leaves. My aunt was in her yard yesterday morning preparing the beds for winter in the throes of summer heat. At the farm in Folsom, people had come from miles around to buy seedlings. Here in New Orleans our growing season stretches into winter.
I sat at a picnic table with Tin trying to get him to eat a hot dog and the only other person at the table was an elderly woman. She didn’t say much the entire time, but later the owner came by and said, “Well, what do you think about my place here,” and the woman said, “Looks pretty much like my place.” And then they started comparing who had the most butterflies, and who had more acres. It reminded me of a sign I had just seen on a barn that said, “Keep it country.”
Summer never left, the change of light was a ruse, winter may arrive with a fury, meanwhile, my land lust is more subdued these days – not 60 acres do I want but just enough – fall is overlapping summer as it is want to do here in New Orleans – the one year anniversary of my mother’s death is approaching – Jewish New Year passed one more time.
My mind is pulled in many directions – is it the end or the beginning?