I tend to dread the days of darkness ahead as summer slips into fall. Then I get a crystal clear day where the sunlight shimmers through the filter of amber and yellowish leaves and I think I can make it through one more giving up on daylight savings time.
I use to love fall but as I enter the age of "restricted driving in the dark hazards" ( I am the hazard) I know I must stay close to my Island home and surrounding area. In other words, "leave early and don't drive much after dark!" Every body in America would be safer if all the older people got a grip about this. The plus of being home earlier is that you get a ton of work done and you get to see old movies on cable. Plenty of time to make chicken and dumplings, zuchinni and banana bread and other fall specials is another plus.
Try making meatloaf and and baked potatoes and squash of any and all kinds.
And then there is the moon in fall. Nothing better than a cool, crisp, night with moon light on Puget Sound.
I wonder what it will be like when I don't have to be at work at O-dark-thirty in the fall. Now that I am 60 I find myself daydreaming about the possibilities of retirement. To dare to take a new path, go new places, take my time, plan a September trip sounds so divine.
I am starting to change my mind about the coming darkness. Instead of fall I may begin to call it the Gold Rush and savor each turning leaf and moonlit night. I will drive in the shortened daylight to somewhere beautiful with woods and shimmery light filtering through each stately turning leaf ready to give up life in a blaze of glorious color. I will savor these colors and look forward to every lovely daffodil that is a sure sign of spring.
