fall Archives - View from the Front Porch

29 08, 2022

Bye, Bye Summer

By judythemorgan|2022-08-28T12:58:17-05:00August 29th, 2022|A Writer's Life, Writer's Life|1 Comment

Another summer is about over. Labor Day is coming.

Fall will officially arrive on September 22, 2022, at 9:03 pm EDT.

Every year at the end of August this one-time schoolteacher becomes a little nostalgic. I’m not saying I’d want to be back teaching in a classroom again. Not with the challenges teachers face today.

Once the back-to-school chatter begins, I can’t stop a part of me from missing the excitement of setting up my classroom and seeing the eager young faces.

I swallow the lump in my throat from memories when I spot a school bus and send up a prayer for a “really good year” for the bus driver, the kids, and the teacher waiting in the classroom.

Back-to-school this year meant three grandchildren headed off the college. One to Arizona, one to Missouri, and one to San Antonio. Two others continue honing their craft as electricians and auto mechanics. The youngest granddaughter continues her homeschooling toward high graduation.

The most exciting thing about this year’s back-to-school is another granddaughter follows her mom, Chicken Wrangler Sara aka music teacher, and me into her classroom as a first-year teacher.

Another granddaughter will continue her teaching career at a new school. Say a little prayer for both of them and all teachers.

August is more than back to school though, it’s the freshness of new beginnings. A time of changes. A mid-year New Year’s Day.

I’m looking forward to the new season. What about you?

25 08, 2014

Seasons – They are changing

By judythemorgan|2014-08-25T06:00:31-05:00August 25th, 2014|Make Me Think Monday, Uncategorized|1 Comment

My internal body clock is set for early morning wakeups. Time zones don’t matter. With or without an alarm, I’m up and moving before the sun crests the horizon.

For me, it’s not a problem. I love getting up at the crack of dawn and walking the dogs in the still of daybreak.

Living in suburban Houston, I didn’t worry about walking in the dark. Streetlights lit my way.

Now that I live in the forest in a state that supports a night sky (meaning streetlights are limited and rare), walking in the dark is a different story. Too many critters like the twilight hours for their prowling.

So before I leave the house, I check on weather.com for local sunrise time and start walking about ten minutes before or just as the sky begins to lighten.

On a recent walk, I spotted sure signs that summer is ending and fall is in the air.

First, shadows are changing. You can see what I mean in this photo.

Another clue—temperatures are dropping. This morning it was 42 degrees. The scent of wood burning in fireplaces hovered around some cabins.

For those of you facing triple digit highs, I’m sure that sounds heavenly. Truthfully, it was chilly. I was thankful for my gloves and hooded jacket.

Another hint is our shrinking population. South Fork is a summer tourist town. Our numbers swell from three hundred year round to 3,000-4,000 during May, June, July and August. RV parks are emptying. Shutters cover windows of summer cabins. The exodus has begun. Summer folk are heading home.

The absolute confirmation that winter is heading our way is found in the Aspens along our walking route.

Yep. That’s yellow among the green. The Aspens are turning.

Fall is on the way, which means wildlife is on the move scavenging for food.

Bears have started their annual bulk up for hibernation and need 12,000 calories a day. That means lots of overturned trash and destroyed barbeque grills. Time to seriously heed the signs posted all along our walk.