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The pre-storm wind danced a handful of dried leaves across the deck this morning and when I closed my eyes I swear I felt an early Fall.The dried bean pods rustling on the trumpet vines climbing up the brick wall behind my fence always make me think of Autumn. I'm wondering if this 'peri-change of life' will affect my life-long affection for my favorite season.
For me, Fall has always been the Spring of my Soul. It birthed a new school semester and kicked off the holiday trio of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 'My' New Years arrived in September along with the hypnotic odor of chili simmering in the kitchen, the sweet smell of wet leaves on the street and the soothing scent from a neighboring fireplace when the really cold weather came early. Fall brought crisp new books, candy, and crinkly wrapping paper and was the last chance to enjoy myself before Winter killed everything.
Too much? Sorry. It's raining here today and my veteran journal readers know what that does to my mood.
Nonetheless, thinking about the good emotional reactions I have to the sound of dried leaves, I began searching Amazon for 'relaxing sounds of leaves' but my search came up empty. I have several different sleep relaxation meditation hypnosis blahditty blahblah type tunes on my MP3 but they all gravitate toward birds, ocean and wind when recreating nature sounds. There are several 'rainstorms' themes available but I don't find those relaxing. So if you've come across or know of any 'leaf rustling' tunes, I'd appreciate the direction.
Bellawood's Amusement Park of Eating remains under restoration. It's a vicious cycle indeed but the blood sugar roller coaster from Sunday is almost settled down. Dinner yesterday was the only hiccup; I drank a liter of water while preparing a tuna salad so eating was uncomfortable. It has been very difficult regaining my sense of real hunger versus thirst.
Reality check on the art appreciation class yesterday when I actually remembered my real age. If 50 is the new 30 what does that make 20 (as that age group would likely comprise 95% of the class)? The thought of a classroom full of text message addicts all searching Saison on their smart phones was uninspiring. I know, I should go and give it a try. There may be some other mid-life-crisis student there in need of a grey-haired study buddy. I haven't ruled it out completely; just a shudder check at feeling like the den-grandmother to the group as I'll probably be older than the instructor.
And that's it. The storm ended and the sun returned, thank goodness, before I started rambling about Fall leaves again. Hope you are all having a good day.
Bella
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 Comments
Fall is my favorite time of year as well, even though it brings with it school and all the crap involved with it. The season itself in Ohio is, on occasion, STUNNING. I know what you mean about the leaves, though now you mention it I NEVER recall hearing leaves on those types of recordings. @ Winter-ya know, I rather like winter as well, to be honest. Winter has a stark beauty and a scent all it's own. Fall is fireplaces and damp and a slightly smoky smell, winter is fresh and clean and cold. You see the outlines of the trees in the bare branches, the simple organic shape of the tree itself. Winter looks like a sepia tone photo, snow softens the edges of things, icicles sparkle, the warmth of indoors, frost on the windows...I just cannot find it sad, it is old and mysterious and deep, but contentment is there nonetheless. (sometimes I wax all poetical, pay no attention!)
24 Jul 13 by member: CollyMP
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I love fall, too. October is my favorite month. Here in LA (Los Angeles, I mean), we don't get much "real" autumn, but back home when I was a kid, I used to go tromping through puddles and piles of oak leaves. Mmm... I'm right there with you re: the smell of wet leaves and wood fires. :)
24 Jul 13 by member: Mary in LA
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I'm more of a spring person as I always associate fall with the end of summer, but as hot & humid as this summer has been, cool & crisp fall days do sound wonderful! Glad to hear the amusement park is closing down... I, even as a kid, thought they were overrated! Any adult education in your one-horse town?... might save you from those 20-year-olds. Hope you're having a good day too, my special friend & Angel!
24 Jul 13 by member: Ruhu
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Fall is my favorite too, although here in Phoenix, leaves don't actually fall until January. I like to remember being on campus at Kansas University in the Fall, crisp and beautiful. It's still a clear memory after more than thirty years. Thanks for the lovely description Bells.
24 Jul 13 by member: teskandar
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Well, today in Montreal, it fell like fall. Temperatures dropped right smack in the middle of a never ending heatwave with high humidity. Typically, it would be suppose to be continuous high heat, sweat and suffering. The weather here is 3 months in a fridge, 3 months in a freezer, two months in the oven, and four months of transition. But it is beautiful to see, each season has it's own beauty. But at this stage of my life, I'd settle seeing it on a postcard from somewhere else.
24 Jul 13 by member: NowIunderstand
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Autumn, as we call it here is beautiful. In the city and inner suburbs you have the trees that leaves change colour and fall. In the subs where I live we mainly have natives (gums, bottlebrushes, etc) which keep leaves all year. When it blows a gale branches can fall off the gums. There are a few discideous trees around but they are ones people plant themselves. I do like that natives as we get lots of birds (Cockatoos, Rainbow loorikets, Galahs).
I also love spring, flowering plants, new life. ALso love the milder weather during Autumn and Spring. Not enjoying winter at the moment. Since losing weight I get sooo cold lol. My lawnmower guy keeps sayingthat the grass should be growing but it still does, must be all the rain
24 Jul 13 by member: elk2804
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I can honestly say that I haven't given autumn any thought for a very long time - that is, until I read your journal! I, too, love fall and think it has taken over as my favorite season as I've gotten older. Spring is always so mushy and dirty when all of the snow is melting. Winter is, well, winter - I'm not a fan of cold and shoveling snow. I used to like summer but I no longer enjoy sitting out in the sun for very long so its popularity has slipped to second place, behind fall. I don't think you should let a generation gap keep you from the art appreciation class as long as you don't think it would ruin your personal experience. Does the class have a refund policy where you can attend a class or two and then decide if you wish to continue without losing your tuition if you choose to quit? I think the joy of getting older is the freedom to do things like take courses just because you want to, not because you are aiming towards a career. I have always said that, if I won the lottery, I would go to Paris and study at the Cordon Bleu cooking school. Hubby would come, too! But, who knows? Maybe we will do it some day, lottery or not. I hope it all works out for you :)
24 Jul 13 by member: evelyn64
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Bella, you have a way with words, did you realize? Probably the same 'gene' that makes your art so beautiful. I'm having a brain fart this morning and can't think of the word - oh, artistic. You are very artistic. Perhaps you could write as well as paint? Your descriptions were beautiful, I could 'hear' what you were writing about. Art class - yes it sounds like a good idea but like you I would not want to be in a class of peeps so much younger than me, but that's just me. Glad the sun came out again. You didn't sound depressed, just mellow. Maybe the Rx is beginning to work? Could the Rx also be messing with your hunger signals?
25 Jul 13 by member: sarahsmum
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I love fall, and you beautifully described it exactly how I feel about it!
25 Jul 13 by member: just_chillin76
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I love taking night classes. It tends to be more older students who have kids, jobs, ect. so they are a little more serious. At least that's my observation from the school I go to :)
25 Jul 13 by member: just_chillin76
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@Colly - wax on my friend; you actually have me looking forward to Winter this year to experience some of the feelings you shared @Mary - yeah, LA is almost seasonless from my experiences out there @Angel - not much adult ed here; it's college or senior citizens and I don't care if Micheal J Fox is the same age of me and WAS on the cover of AARP I refuse to think of myself as a senior just yet, LOL @Teri - Thank you - yeah, AZ didn't have a big Fall season as I recall either but boy oh boy are you folks ever popular during the winter. Thanks for stopping by, stranger. Good to hear from you @ Mauni - How ironic; I always think of Montreal as cold - interesting to get a new perspective @Elk - Sounds fabulous and the though of wild cockatoos is so off the chart for my back yard I'd probably faint... that's really cool @Evelyn - yeah, I think that's why I don't like winter - it's either almost springlike anyway here in the south or it's frigid iced over highway cold; no inbetween sledding snowman building period; just blue northerns and ice when it does happen. I think A LOT about taking a cooking course and hope you go for your dream lotto or not @ Isabel - you know, this may read as self depricating and soliticous but I was so touched as your compliment. I always feel my writing lacks any true skill or technique because it was so repeatedly pounded into my head and heart in school whenever my essay's would bleed (so many red 'error' marks from the instructor). Funny - that also reminded me of how I'd get criticized for my penmanship too ((yeah... that was back in the day when they taught it)) and most people tell me I have a beautiful penmanship. Oh the things adults can do to kids, no? Thank you. @Chillin - thank you too. Yes, I remember as I aged and moved to night classes too (because of a day job) the class population was older as well but still... mid 20's to 30's. I'm still considering it and as Evelyn suggested I could try & request a refund OR just my original plan to try to audit the first couple of classes to see if I can get in without the meningitis shot and then just back pay tuition or make a donation to the university or something. We'll see. I was relieved to find I hadn't put the schedule into the garbage bin yet. Thanks again everyone.
25 Jul 13 by member: FullaBella
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Beautiful picture painted in your words - thanks for sharing all of it. It's felt a little like Fall up here, too.
26 Jul 13 by member: Sweet Ce
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Ce - thank you. It's raining again today and because it's always so cold in here it feels like fall too. I was trying to paint 'Autumn RainStorm' last night - looked better in my mind than on the canvas but it's a start :-)
26 Jul 13 by member: FullaBella
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