Autumn

Labor Day has come and gone and the warm sunlit days of this summer grow shorter and threaten to take their leave

The seasonal visitors are packing up their camps and stopping in to say good-bye

We reminisce sweetly of the joys of this summer in the north woods

Fond farewells are laced with promises to stop by

upon their return to this rural mountain town.

I will miss them

I will miss their kind words and encouragement

I will miss their stories and their smiles

Departures to reconnect with other parts of their lives

in other places far from here.

The garden is full of vine-ripened tomatoes, peppers, mixed lettuces, beans and peas.

Bountiful harvest

I crawl into bed at night and draw the red drapes

12 hour days seven days a week for the ten week season

I am in need of rest

The flannel sheets cover my body

I am encased in a womb of warmth, darkness and stillness

I fall asleep at night with worry about an early Adirondack frost and the coming of autumn

Will the harvest be good or will the fruits of our labors wither on the vine?

I sleep a dreamless sleep until

The sunlight finds its way in

the small space between the drapes…

the hint of something waiting

another beautiful day…

Autumn in the Adirondacks

The streets are uninhabited

Businesses hang signs in the windows-

Closed today

As the locals take a day off

Time to get outside and remember why we live here

Life is like that-

Sunny days of summer give way to autumn

Dear friends passing though

The Seasons of this life

Embrace this moment

While it is here