So it's the first official day of fall and it feels a bit wintery with the low temperature and cloudy skies. To be honest, it's been autumnal for a couple of weeks so far, so the calendar marking is a bit anti-climatic. I noticed yesterday that some of the trees down the street had gotten yellow leaves on the end of their branches. I believe they are poplar trees, which in North America are in the willow family. They have heart shaped leaves which are one of the early turners in fall. The poplar trees in Europe look very different. I know Vincent van Gogh painted many scenes with poplars looking like green candle flames.
My sister's favorite season is autumn and her birthday is at the end of September, though I don't think there's any connection. As an adult, my sister tries to avoid her birthday, so that can't be why. I ought to ask her why she likes autumn so much. My favorite season is spring, when the whole earth feels as if it's being reborn.
I would like autumn more if it didn't contain Halloween, which I hate. All that spooky stuff is very difficult for a wimp like me to deal with and it gets more prevalent and appears earlier each year. I do appreciate the trees changing colors, it's quite dramatic and I never tire of it, even after all these years. It has an elusive quality still, perhaps because it last such a short time? I continue to set more paintings in the autumn, to try to get some of that color and drama into my art. It's also a chance to use unusual hues, something different than all the shades of green in so many of my paintings.
The other thing I dislike about fall is that it signals the shortening of days, when it get dark in early evening. Since I can't see well enough to drive at night, this really curtails my already sparse activities. I have to go everywhere early in the day and make sure I'm home before twilight. That can be nerve wracking when standing in line at a store or after a delay of some sort. The last few years, I've gotten better at planning outings to avoid worrying about the lateness of the hour, but it's something I must be very conscious of in winter months.
Fall does mark the beginning of craft show season and I enjoy that. A few years ago I went to a craft show nearly every weekend for months. That was a bit too much, but I still like going to a few. This year I only have 2 shows, one in Nov. and another in Dec. so I really ought to make an effort to visit some that I'm not in. There's even some new ones at places which haven't had them before, so that might be interesting to check them out.
