Monday, November 4, 2013

Falling Down

Thanks to my aunt s-ster's post way back in August, I've had the fall blues for 3 months.  I am not a fan of fall for many reasons.  It's time to go back to school, everything that was so in bloom stops blooming and dies, it gets cold and worst of all, the dreaded afternoon darkness arrives in full force once the calendar turns to November.

In New England, we suffer darkness before 5pm once we turn the clocks back.  Often in December, on a really bleak day, it starts to darken around 3:30 and you just want to go to bed by 6pm.  I don't know that I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) because I can get out of bed and I'm not crying all day, I just don't like the early darkness.

My soul does little flips of joy come January when it's lighter a little longer each day.

This week, s-ster posted another fall post but this one is MUCH more entertaining.  And nothing about fall, actually.

But, back to my own post about fall.

I learned a few years ago that I can still grow some things through the fall and winter, so I have beets growing in my greenhouse right now and possibly more starting soon.  As long as I get them started before the first real frost (we haven't had one yet :)), they will grow through the winter.  Broccoli too.  I have some very small broccoli plants in the greenhouse that probably won't produce broccoli until the spring, but what I have in the ground should produce some before Christmas.  Depending on how frigid it gets.

But, nothing with any serious color or flowers grows from now on.  I brought my flowering plants into school, so I can see some color there.  But it's not the same.

Anyway, to me, this is what fall is.
Stark trees, ugly brown leaves, brown grass.  Just plain ugliness.

I try to find pretty trees to look at and I will say there are a few that are the most startling shade of red/orange that I drive by on the way to school every day.

There is also this tree in my yard.

This picture doesn't really do it justice but it is very lovely.  The colors are amazing every year and it's a nice and full tree.  We've had serious wind this week, so there aren't as many leaves as there should be.  Do you know what kind of tree it is?  I can't figure it out.  It's not really maple or oak.


I also get a real kick out of pretty leaves on the ground.


In college, I enjoyed fall.  Nashville has a very nice fall and Vanderbilt's campus had a kajillion leafy trees, so when the leaves fell, they were everywhere.   I loved the cruchiness of them and kicking them around.

Fall also means things like this.

Such a cute cupcake, made by a student, and carried all the way to my classroom.  He didn't get it when I asked him where the rest of the witch was.  These 5th graders don't get half of what I say and forget about 4th graders.  I basically just talk to hear myself talk all day and entertain the assistants who come with certain classes.

Halloween has never been a favorite pastime of mine.  We always froze to death on Halloween and we'd have to wear our coats over our costumes and then have someone hold them while we went to the door.   I always thought it was dumb that we put work into a costume that no one could see because it was dark except for a small bulb at their door.  "In my day" we didn't go to Main St. or the mall to do our trick or treating and we never did it during daylight.  We also didn't have a neighborhood with cul-de-sacs that are fun for trick or treating. 

Basically, I'm ready for spring.

Linking here:
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com/2013/11/creative-corner-hop-87.html#more
http://www.myturnforus.com/ 

2 comments:

  1. My sister-in-law lives in New England—Ct. and vacation home in Vermont—and I must say we have visited her in the autumn and winter months and boy, was that tough after a few days. We are tropical people, so the bone chilling cold, the dreariness and most importantly the dark skies by 4:30 had us missing our sunshine and warmth. I totally get it. That sort of dreariness is hard on a soul. Granted every place has its drawbacks and even though it's a gorgeous blue skied day here in Fl, I would trade summers with you in a heartbeat. Thanks for your kind words on my blog! I have missed all my blog friends.

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  2. I love fall, but I never thought about it that way. We get dark around 6pm mostly because we are in the prairie so nothing blocks the sun until the last moment. I hate the bleakness of January and February so much instead. Good post and cute pictures. I like the trees and the cupcake!

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