One thing you can say for sure about weather…it changes.
After a couple of cloudy days, this first morning of October arrived cold and clear, as if the month wanted to prove it could look and feel like autumn. And I do mean cold…39F degrees when I checked at 7:00 a.m. Cold enough to see your breath and warrant a jacket with a bit of insulation rather than an unlined windbreaker.
What I wanted to do was get out, take a walk, make a few photos. Greet October on its own turf. Experience this monthly beginning immersed in the woods and fields—take the time to see and smell and feel the day and changing season. What I had to do was go to the hospital to have blood drawn for my annual checkup. After that came stops at a couple of stores. Then a few errands. Several necessary chores at the house. Which will be followed this evening by a Board meeting for the local community health center, on which I'm a member. With luck…I'll make it home before 8:00 p.m.
Well, this time I showed 'em! Whomever 'em is. Between the stores and the errands, I went AWOL, played hooky—made my escape! Okay, so it was only for 45 minutes; when my entire blessed day is planned out ahead of time, committed to a scribbled-onto-paper itinerary, I'll settle for whatever I can wring out. After all, in the scheme of things, savoring a small dish of ice cream is still better than no ice cream…right?
My walk was therefore short. Just a brief ramble along a loop trail that covers perhaps a half-mile of woodland. I knew that if I allowed time for gawking and dreaming and making a few photos, this would be about maximum.
I didn't expect to find much change visually from my outing earlier in the week—and that indeed proved the case. The landscape still looks as much late-summer as early-fall…though maybe this is just one of those perspective issues, like is the glass half-full or half-empty. At any rate green remains the dominant color. There are a few yellows and oranges, and tiny bits of red—usually provided by Virginia creeper. But quintessential autumn is still a couple of weeks away.
Seasons will always take their time, without regard to anyone's schedule save their own. Which is true freedom…though, alas, not my particular freedom for today. Maybe that's something I need to add to my schedule…
