Notes from the Spring Creek Arts Guild

That Golden Season

Ah, that detestable season, summer, is finally in the rearview. Yes, I am painfully aware that hot weather still can and does show up from time to time into December, but at least we can believe the grind of one 100 degrees plus days, every day, is over for a few months. Yesterday evening I was driving home as the sun was getting low in the sky. The entire world looked golden. The cows were grazing in golden fields, the plowed fields were a rich red, even the gravel county road looked like something out of a painting. The angle of the sun has shifted and will be giving us many days of that golden light in the months to come.

One morning last week I notice the sun was shining straight into my front window, across my floor all the way to the other side of my kitchen. That is the angle I wait for all summer, despite the fact that it will have me sweeping every single day—it illuminates every speck of dust on my floor. If I look past the dirty floor and out the window, I will see my porch rockers calling my name. This time of the year finds me on the front porch with a cup of coffee in my hand every morning. It has to be bitterly cold and windy to keep me inside.

When I was much younger and living in another part of the country, I would find myself sinking into a depressed state mid-winter. It is my understanding that this happens to many people due to the short daylight hours in winter. In the past 20 years, I have found that pattern has turned completely around—I have my sinking spell in the summer. Brutal summers like we just had are particularly depressing when it seems like that sun is coming up every day to try to burn everything to death. Now, when the angle of the sun changes and the temperatures start to ease downward, I feel resurrected.

Of course fall also brings some of my favorite things like football season and hunting season. I love to spend Saturdays knitting and watching college football and Sunday afternoon naps with a football soundtrack. I have not hunted much in the past few years, but I love the family and friends part of hunting season. I love going to town and seeing all of the camo-dressed people in the shops and restaurants. As we get farther into fall, I get to start wearing my woolens, and covering up with a quilt or two—makes me happy just thinking about it. The weather folks keep saying that we may be going into an El Niño year, meaning a wet winter for us. I sure hope that comes true. After this past summer, I would happily stay inside watching rain run down my windows occasionally. Looking back through pictures reveals the drought-busting rains are almost always in October. Soaking our scorched ground and putting some water back in the ponds would be truly golden. I think I will go say a prayer or two.