As a teen, I never cared for love stories. While other girls were sighing and crying over the latest sugary “boy-meets-girl”, I jumped into the classics, swearing romance book writers conspired to create Cinderella pap to weaken women’s minds. (Mom said I was foolish but she kept a soft spot for Barbara Cartland.) Not that I didn’t believe in love! I was just felt very awkward and self-conscious reading about it. I knew that if/when I fell in love, I’d never write tell the world about it. Then I saw the South in October. Yes, I know people aren’t supposed to fall in love with places. And if any part of the states is known for autumn scenes, it’s New England, not Alabama. But I did and the beauty of Autumn in Dixie was then a fairly well kept secret. So I had no idea, when I crossed the Mississippi River, that I was stepping into a place of transcendent beauty. I spent that first visit walking with my mouth half-open, about the Technicolor foliage that appeared around every bend. I found the South and Southerners fascinating and loved their complex, stubborn relationship with this place but more than anything,…
When the stores said fall was upon us, I didn’t believe them. Stores put out their “Back-to-School” signage before the summer is half way through. On the other hand, the calendar’s decree of fall’s arrival comes far too late. By that time, classes are well-started and my old school has won at least three football games. No, you can’t predict the seasons by anything man-made. The long, slow slide away from summer started about 3 weeks ago, according to my early warning portents. I know when the year starts to turn by the leaves, the nuts and the spiders. A 2 day haul of acorns and pecans.Anyone want to pick up the rest? Some people say they see the signs of fall. Me, I hear about it first from the trees. When the leaves are still green and the thermometer hovers above 90, trees signal the change of season with a series of small bombing raids generally known as the falling of nuts. Phooey. These nuts don’t fall. From the sound of them hitting our roof, they are hurled and God help what they hit when they land. The impacts and ricochets sound like gunfire and the noise initially scares the…