The Seasons, They Are A-Changin'

I feel the cold a-comin’. Yep. The seasons, they are a changin’. Ready or not, here the cold weather comes.

I hate the cold. I absolutely despise driving in the ice and snow. This is probably the biggest thing I don’t like about living in town – winter driving conditions. I just dread when the temperatures drop.

However, this time right before it gets really cold; this is probably my favorite time of year. I love autumn not because of the beginning of school, or the football season, or all the birthdays we celebrate in my family. It’s the change in the season that gets me ready to change my pace. The change in the weather and the trees takes me from the hot, busy summer days spent outdoors to the cold, laid-back days spent indoors.

The cooler temperatures mean afternoons napping on the couch in front of a football game on television. It means caramel apples, hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, big bowls of chili, and lots of little smokies on the side. It means breaking out the corduroy jackets, cozy scarves, and buying new kickin’ boots. In our family, a trip to the mall has to fit in there somewhere.

The colors outside are just spectacular. The oranges, the yellows, the reds, and the browns on the green grass under a blue sky are incredible. All the different shades of these colors blended together are something worth taking a minute to appreciate.

It’s this time of year that you look forward to driving slowly through tree-lined residential neighborhoods. If you drive slowly enough, the leaves may gently fall on your car. If you pick up the pace, you can sift and scatter piles that may have collected on those less-traveled streets. Sometimes after I drop the kids at school I might go a block or two out of my way just to find a street full of leaves. Sometimes I’m still a kid at heart – a kid with a big sport utility vehicle.

The tree at the corner of our street is just beautiful. It’s a maple and right now has the most vibrant red foliage. It’s even more vibrant than my daughter’s new red highlights. And that’s saying something. The neighbors who own the tree barely have any grass in their yard and often don’t tie up their dog. But it makes me love these neighbors for having that tree -- and I don’t even know these people.

I took the dog for a walk yesterday. The weather channel predicted that Tuesday would probably be the last day to see 70 degrees for some time. The sights and smells just give you that fuzzy feeling; the kind of feeling that stays with you. The sky was a perfect blue. The sun was warm on my back, but there was crispness in the air that kept the weather from feeling too warm. With George Winston’s Autumn album playing in the CD player, life was just perfection.

There is a street I look forward to walking along at this time of year. It’s a short block with lots of oak trees. The oak trees drop all their leaves on the sidewalk, and the property owners rarely rake. It is a perfect place for piles of leaves that you can kick up as you walk. It has that earthy leaf scent that candle companies spend all kinds of money to duplicate. And when the sprinklers have just run, oh, it smells just awesome. That is the smell of autumn.

I’ve been missing another smell that means autumn to me. We’ve been so busy with school and sports and church activities that we didn’t make it out to my parent’s farm for harvest this year. The kids love to ride in the combine with my brother, the truck with my dad, or the grain cart with my mom. The smell of the corn in the back of the combine and the trucks is another smell that means the end of the warm weather. And the little pieces of corn husk that collect in your clothes and hair are just a precursor of the flakes that will soon fall.

God puts on quite a show this time of year. It’s worth taking a minute to stop and look around. Of course, what do we go and do at our house? We slap spider webs and skeletons on the house and yard (at least when we have the time). I still need to get the Halloween tub out of the basement and place a few gravestones in the lawn. But what’s the hurry? Halloween is only less than a week away. Heaven knows I am only motivated by a deadline. I guess I might as well break out the Christmas lights while we are at it.

I know this blog is a little out of character for my smart mouth. But I thought it was time to take a minute to appreciate God’s beautiful creation. If, however, you are missing the snarky comments, here are a few issues that I have stumbled upon over the past week or two that I think are worth mentioning, but may not be able to carry their own blog. Hope they aren’t too sassy. Enjoy.

--If you ever are presented with the opportunity to serve at your church during a pastor’s conference – do it. These are people who appreciate everything you do, and they will tell you so, a lot. They thank you for the wonderful food. They thank you for cleaning up the wonderful food. They thank you for the coffee. They thank you for the snacks. They thank you for the bottled water. They thank you for making everything run so smoothly. They thank you for just being there. And if you get the opportunity to hear them sing – do it. Pastors sing. I mean they really sing with their beautiful bass and tenor voices, often in harmony. They don’t mouth the words. They belt it out to glorify God. It is a beautiful thing. I would take that as my thanks any day.

--I find lately I often have to ask “Who is this person?” When I am on Face book in the People You May Know section (at the top right corner), I have several people to which I have 25 or so mutual friends. But I have no idea who these people are. How did that happen? I know I am forgetful, but not that forgetful. Also, I think they should put a “Not in a million years” button when some people pop up in this section. Call me catty, but life is too short to friend mean people and I don’t want to look at their faces again and again.

--Why do people with little dogs think it is so funny when their little unleashed dog comes charging over as you pass by, but then freak out if your big dog perks up their ears and stops walking to check the situation? When dogs charge they are displaying aggressive behavior, no matter what their size. So if your dog is going to pick a fight, leave them in the backyard or on a leash. I should mention, however, big 90-pound golden retrievers are generally too well behaved to tear a little dog to pieces, no matter how annoying your dog is. Most of time, the big dog is thinking, “Really? (Eye roll.) You’ve got to be kidding. Take a sedative. I’ve pooped bigger things than you today. Don’t make me step on you. Why don’t you take it up with the German shepherd around the corner? He didn’t have his snack this morning.”

--It only takes one night to have a sleepover, but it takes a week to clean up the mess. I’ve rounded up all the sleeping bags and popcorn residue, but I am still finding unknown socks. I also have an extra pillow and an extra pair of jean shorts. I am hoping to find a home for these items within the next month. Somewhere there is a mom desperately searching for a pink pillow and the match to several lonely socks.

--Why do all the new Top 40 songs feature somebody whistling at some point in the song? What is up with that? And more importantly, why did I never learn to whistle? These are things I want to know.

--Why are the new movies either about super heroes or are remakes of old films? Since we’ve run out of J.K. Rowling’s books, can nobody think of anything original any more? Are we so short of real-life people doing heroic deeds that we have to look to the comic books? I know we aren’t finding any quality deeds coming out the reality television shows. I don’t know. Maybe this might be worth a blog. I feel a rant coming on.

--I’ve stopped worrying if the kids in my neighborhood are going to like the candy I buy. Most of the kids old enough to trick-or-treat go to the mall or the zoo anyway. They don’t go house to house anymore. It’s too cold and too dangerous. So I buy the kind of candy I like (and a nice dessert wine to go with it). Somebody ought to eat good Monday, and it might as well be me.

--I have to say, I am glad my son is on my side. We were goofing around today, giving each other a few shoves, and the boy totally threw me sideways. I’m thinking this whole football linebacker thing has turned him into a little stud. He got low and gave me the shoulder, and I almost came up off the ground from the sheer force. He says that wasn’t even a real shove. It was just a little one. And it totally hurt. I know I’m getting a bruise. So I’m glad I have the boy on my side. He can plow the way through life one step ahead of me, blazing a path. Awesomeness. At least I got that going for me.

--Joe quote of the week: “Once you go chubby, you gotta go Bubby.” Take that however you deem appropriate.

OK, so that’s all I’ve got for you for this week. We are finally done with football games and soccer, so I might actually have a little time to write a blog again. Hopefully I will be able to get back to the computer a couple times a week for more blog updates.

I promise that I’ll do my best. Of course, there might be a really nap-worthy football game on television. Or I might need to take the dog for another walk.

If you don’t like it, take it up with my new complaints department. Of course, you will have to get by the little stud at the door. And watch out. He only takes it easy on his mom.