Sep 26 2008
Autumn and Loss
I get a bit melancholy this time of year. Is it the decreasing daylight hours triggering my pineal gland?
The sunshine bone is connected to the serotonin bone, and the serotonin bone is connected to the happiness bone . . .
This week I’ve awoken to temperatures in the 60s. What a refreshing sensation! Here in Florida we don’t really have four seasons. I describe our two as “summer” and “not-quite-summer.”
Oh sure, there are a number of changes in the vegetations and wildlife that I am able to amplify into a cause worth using the word “autumn.” My first sign is the raintrees in our neighborhood pushing out buds. And they are. The buds blossom yellow. Then they form delicate paper pods that turn a lightly saturated, deep red. Cypress trees lose their leaves. The hummingbirds disappear. Grass growth slows dramatically. It’s not much, but it’s something.
In a couple months, when the goldfinches arrive at our feeders, I’ll know its winter. Somewhere.
