Fall – FROM THE SHOE

Every year, Katie’s quiet hometown hosts a spectacular Harvest Festival. Thousands come far and wide to attend wreaking havoc on the local traffic. The landscape is dotted with old red barns, orange pumpkins, and an array of seasonal decorations. Pumpkin pie is everywhere.

Katie’s quilt booth stands out. Aside from the neatly stacked handmade quilts she has sewn to the many antique quilts she has collected, she is confident she will make many sales. She adds bunches of sunflowers to the display with lighted autumn accents. This year’s weather is perfectly magical as a gentle warm wind comes off the hills and the cozy sun greets the crisp October morning. She wraps her fingers around her coffee cup and drinks in the moment.

“Heeey…” Katie answered her phone. “Are you coming?” She asked her friend, Leslie.

“We’re already here, getting coffee with Jeff…and his uncle. Is Pete there?”

“Nah, he’s not coming…we broke up. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it, today is too nice.” Katie answered.

“I’m…NOT sorry, I didn’t like him. You want anything?” Leslie asked.

“I’m good. I had one of those pumpkin spice awesome mega-muffins. You should try one, they’re good. A million calories though.”

“I might, see you soon.”

The morning breezed by. Katie enjoyed the throng of people who walked past, and especially the customers who bought quilts. She handed out dozens of business cards. The one downside of boothing was missing the Festival itself, but she was glad to have a space.

Leslie, Jeff and Jeff’s uncle finally appeared… and Jeff’s uncle wasn’t the old man Katie expected. He was a handsome man about Jeff’s age.

“Hey….” Katie rushed to Leslie with a grateful embrace. “You OK?” Leslie whispered.

“Yeah, I’m fine…”

“Katie, this is Jason…Jeff’s uncle.” Leslie introduced.

Katie extended her hand. “Nice meeting you…Uncle?”

“You were expecting an old man, weren’t you?” He smiled shaking her hand.

“I did,” Katie chuckled.

“I’ve got Benjamin Button disease, you know, I age in reverse.” Jason teased.

“Really, Jason,” Jeff explained, “My mom is his oldest sister, and he’s the youngest, so we grew up together.”

“I see…I think.” Katie replied.

“You know, I’ve lived here all my life, and always avoided this event because of the crowds, but it’s not so bad.” Jason observed.

“I told you it’d be fun.” Jeff said.

“Jason works at the School District, building new schools, right?” Leslie was letting Katie know he was employed.

“I work in the Facilities Department where we do build new schools and other stuff.” Jason added.

“Sounds like a good job,” Katie said. Behind Jeff and Jason, Leslie pointed to her ring finger and shook her head. Katie nodded, and gave Jason another look. He was definitely attractive in a shy kind of way; hmm, this day might get even better, she hoped.

“Hey, why don’t we run the booth, and you and Jason check out the fair.” Jeff suggested.

“I don’t know, I would love to, but…” Katie glared at Leslie.

“Oh just get outta here; cash box, business cards, anything else I need?” Leslie asked.

“No, I guess that’s it, are you sure?”

“Yes, get out of here!” Leslie ordered, smiled and waved them away.

“She’s quite a character,” Jason commented while they walked. Katie looked over her shoulder to see a winking Leslie.

“She is, and the best of friends. Her and Jeff…great couple.” They walked in silence and Katie sensed an exhilarating awkwardness, an exciting foreboding.

“Jeff found a good one,” Jason said nervously, “So is this quilt thing your full time job?”

“No, my hobby, I work in the City, but I live here. I love this town.” Katie relished the ease she had talking to him.

“Me and Jeff grew up here, and most of our family still live here.”

“How big is your family?” Katie asked.

“My sister, Alexis, Jeff’s mom, is the oldest of ten, and I’m the baby. Me and Jeff are the same age. He’s an only child, so we really are like brothers.”

“That must be nice, a big family…” Katie envied large families.

“What about you? Your family nearby?” He asked as they shuffled through the crowd.

“No, it’s just me, my dad died after I graduated high school, and my mom passed a few years ago. She’s the one who taught me to make quilts.” She smiled wistfully as the sun glinted in her watery green eyes.

“I’m really sorry,” he went to touch her shoulder in comfort, but the crowds separated them.

“Katie!” he called. She turned and tried to make her way back to him. He reached out over a group of kids to take her hand. She looked into his brown eyes and felt something she’d never felt before: a warmth, a comfort, a sense of belonging, and something magical happened. She clasped his strong hand and would never let it go.

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It’s one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. Like “In My Room”, it’s haunting melodies underscore the quintessential feeling and mood one feels while drinking in the congenial rays of a friendly sun. As autumn dawns, the warmth of the sun, when it does shine on the Northern California coast, especially in Indian Summer, is a truly invigorating, kind and soothing phenomenon. Unlike the brutal summer sun, as welcoming as it is after a cruel winter, it becomes unyielding and unbearable when it beats down into triple digits.

Today is the beginning of fall. Like my fellow fall-a-philes, we look forward to the shorter days which are bordered by crispy cold mornings and brisk evenings while filled with a warmth of the sun that beguiles the season. Autumn is “the season between summer and winter comprising in the northern hemisphere usually the months of September, October, and November or as reckoned astronomically extending from the September equinox to the December solstice,” or as we “poets” muse, “a period of maturity or incipient decline”. While the days shorten, the year faces its end and the leaves fall and die; this season, and the warmth of its days, for some reason invigorates the soul and all its creative impulses.

The colors associated with this season construe earth, nature, home, if you will, at least to me. Browns beckon us to the dust from which we were formed. Burnt yellows and oranges warm our hearts like a small fire. Deep forest evergreens envy their deciduous cousins whose deaths make such a spectacular display.

It’s been a tough couple years, years fraught with demanding work, family discord, parental decline, loved ones’ depression and, sadly, death. So much so I haven’t been able to appreciate the little rays of warmth that have shone through the storm clouds. But as I get older, I am learning to appreciate those very rays, those rays which are, indeed like photosynthesis, life giving.

My office is away from the main hub of activity where I work. I have to walk over to that office a couple times a day. Despite the cool summer we had on the Peninsula, many mornings the sun would shine in such a gentle fashion that I’d just look up and let the warmth of the sun wash over me. Like the plant converts the sun’s energy into life, so the rays from the sun convert my sadness into joy, my darkness into light and my pandemonium into peace. It’s amazing that this free resource of peace surround us daily.

I took a little trip up north for just a day. I needed to get away and stop – just stop – no activities but sitting on the pier, lounging in the river and soaking up the trees, the birds, the smells of days gone by and, of course, the gentle end-of-summer sun. I told my niece I was enjoying the ministry of nature. The difficulty of the past few years reminds me of a story from Mrs. Cowman’s devotional, Springs in the Valley.

In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.

This whirling rushing life which so many of us live does for us what that first march did for those poor jungle tribesmen. The difference: THEY KNEW what they needed to restore life’s balance; too often, WE DO NOT. –July 11

One of the reasons why I like photography is that I can capture some of these free resources that surround me whether it is a spectacular Pacifica sunset, a cool morning by some “still waters”, a plucky stellar jay, Erin’s sunflowers or the last blackberries of the summer, to name a few. All these little things, like the warmth of the sun and the colors of autumn, help me sustain my life and perspective in a big way, and allow my soul to catch up with my body.

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