The glories of October

#blog52 #week43

 “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ephesians 3:11

Let us now speak of the glories of October! Let us sing of her colors and marvel at her sunsets; let us celebrate the bounty of her harvest and dance by the fire in her cool evenings.

Poets have long been inspired by October’s autumnal majesty:

    O suns and skies and clouds of June, 
        And flowers of June together, 
    Ye cannot rival for one hour 
        October’s bright blue weather.
 – from “October’s Bright Blue Weather,” by Helen Hunt Jackson

October is the treasurer of the year,
And all the months pay bounty to her store;
The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,
And fill her brimming coffers more and more.
But she, with youthful lavishness,
Spends all her wealth in gaudy dress,
And decks herself in garments bold
Of scarlet, purple, red, and gold.
 – from “October,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

My view flying into Connecticut this week

Oh, October, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways….

I love thy festivals and thy parades.

October 7, Edgewood Mac & Cheese Festival

October 21, Decatur Beer Festival

 

October 21, Little Five Points Halloween Parade

I love thy apple cakes and apple fritters, thy ciders and lattes and seasonal cocktails, thy butternut squash soups and whole hog barbecues.

I love thee on porches, patios and decks; I love thee gathered ’round fire pits and bonfires.

I love thee in Georgia.

October 19, Love is Love Farm

I love thee in Tennessee.

October 15, near Chattanooga

I love thee in Connecticut

October 25, Hartford, Connecticut

And so now, on this 28th day of the fairest of all months, let us resolve to savor these last moments of October, to live in them fully, with gratitude and exuberance. For alas, her glory is fleeting.

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
– “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” by Robert Frost

Tags: autumn, fall, october