Autumn

by Erik Hare

Autumn arrived on Tuesday, and right on cue it started to get just a little bit cooler at night.  It’s the season to get a good night’s sleep after finishing up the last projects of the summer – or, if you’re lucky, the last daze of loafing around.

The leaves are starting to turn a little early this year, probably because this was a dry summer.  Typically, we have another few weeks before the maples start to turn, but the Sugar Maple in my yard is already bare.  We won’t have the glorious color we are lucky to have some years, but we’ve been greeted with some bright clear skies that are typical of early fall.  There’s plenty of time for the storms that come with the arrival of cold weather later on. 

Saint Paul is a good city for fall.  The city has a kind of empty feel much of the summer as everyone heads out to a lake for the weekend.  Once things cool off, people tend to stay in town and maybe head out to the local restaurants for fun.  When there’s a ton of snow on the ground, things get a little too hazardous to venture out at times, so this is the season to find your neighbors at the coffee shop or local bar.

Another change that is in the air is, of course, the fact that the kids are in school.  Routine starts to hold everything together so there’s a bit less running around and more time to enjoy life.  The cooler weather always brings a slightly more relaxed pace that says, “It’s time to enjoy what’s left.”  It’s not as though life revolves around the approach of Winter, but we all know when things are good.  The end of September is one of those times.

It’s not as though there’s anything especially magical about Autumn, it’s just our season.  I plan to enjoy as much of it as I can, and I hope you do too.