It’s finally chilly in the mornings as I walk around campus. I’m now crunching acorns underfoot, and I pause to pick up the most beautiful ones to bring home, paint, and display.
The air smells, I don’t know—like old, old oak trees. The smell offers a particular joy.
Just as I embraced summer with all its weeding, planting, and harvesting and its hot days cooled by icy slushy drinks, I’ll gather up autumn into my heart with all the raking of leaves, the baking of warm things, the wearing of cozy clothes, and the drinking of hot beverages on cold nights.
We’re already lighting candles in the evening and wrapping warm sweaters around us. We’re already stirring pumpkin into recipes and dreaming of butternut squash soup. But it’s not winter yet. We can take long walks in t-shirts with our sweatshirts tied around our waist. We can work in the yard. We can throw open the windows if we wish. But still, the warm blankets aren’t far from our grasp. We’ll burrow into them after a walk to see the autumn leaves coming soon in all their splendor.