Autumn arrived this year with the rain. There was anticipation for days as the weather forecasters said the heat was ending, and the cool autumn would begin. The rain brought with it the cool weather we seemed to have waited all September to finally arrive. It was an unusually warm September. Until yesterday, October 6th, we were still running the air conditioner every day. It was almost 90 degrees a few days ago. But now, that should be done. Our Indian Summer has left, and the rain has brought the cold front that will probably stick with us until March or April.
One of the best things about living in a moderate, temperate place like the Midwest is that it does rain, but it doesn’t rain a lot. It usually rains just enough. A few days of wet every month to wash away the dirt and dust is enough to keep these lands green, lush, and suitably moist. We have droughts occasionally. But it’s hard to believe it when you live next to 20% of the Earth’s fresh water. What do you mean there is no water? It’s RIGHT THERE!
So, when the rain comes, it’s a bit of a treat. Sometimes it comes with a storm, which is not so much of a treat (that is, if it brings tornadoes). But mostly, it just comes on its own. A weather front that came from the west, starting as moisture collecting around the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and then pushed east by the Westerly winds and the rotation of the Earth. Sometimes the rain will come from the south or east if there is a hurricane or a big enough weather system to disrupt the normal flow of weather in the Midwest. Mostly, the rain just comes from the west.
The same weather that can seemingly starve the Great Plains of water brings it here, instead, where we have quite enough water. Such is the wonder of weather and geography that is the Midwest.
Everything gets a sheen of wet, including the dogs, who don’t much like the rain, that’s for sure. The thick rain clouds create an overall gloom that suddenly switches the brain to a thoughtful and ponderous mode. There will be more of these gloomy days to come in the next six months than there will be sunny days. That will be hard for many people, but it’s not hard for me. You have to balance sunny and gloomy, like a weather yin-yang. It also changes the tone in my house; no longer are the large windows bringing in copious sunlight. The hallways are dark and cavernous, and the library is a gloomy as it is outside. It creates a feeling of coziness, of the walls closing in for the long winter ahead.
It’s certainly autumn now. All the furniture needs to come in. The citrus plants that live outside in the summer need to come in. The pool needs to be closed. The wood store needs to be filled. The water lines need to be winterized. The garden has started to die off, giving off the last of its bounty, leaving a weedy mess to look at all winter. There’s always a long list of things to do with the seasons changing so starkly like this. When I spent a year living in California, it was so strange that when the seasons changed, we didn’t need to do any of these things. The furniture stayed outside. We could stay outside. It never got below freezing. It was unnatural. My body rejected the lack of four seasons quite forcefully.
So, I’m happy to be back here, in the autumn rain. It’s washing away the hot summer. Everything is getting a cleaning it has needed for months. The trees are drinking up what they need left before they start dropping their leaves. The tulip tree growing behind my house that started growing the year we moved in is always the first tree to turn its giant leaves. My favorite golden color. Though the walnut trees tried to cut in line this year, it wasn’t their fault. They were infested with gypsy moths this year, which ate almost their entire foliage. All that was left were the green walnuts, which fell almost all at once in the strong winds we had a few days ago. They say sturdy trees like walnuts can take one infestation of gypsy moths, so I hope the trees will be fine next year. In the meantime, it will look naked all winter.
The dense undergrowth has started to retreat, and I’m only now realizing how much lawn we’ve lost in recent years to the forest around us creeping back into the yard. I think we will be doing some clearance work this autumn. Too much mulberry. Too much honeysuckle. It’s not native, and it eats everything. We cleared a lot of vines last year, and overall, I think the older trees in the forest were healthier this year. But there’s still much clearing to do. I like to act like we can tame these woods, but one thing is true after living here for 10 years: there is very little we can actually do to tame them, other than get them to recede a bit. This property WANTS to be a forest. We’re the only ones keeping it a bay, trying to keep our patches of grass green and healthy.
It’s time for the forest to take its long nap, and for us to huddle up for winter. This is my most favorite time of year.
Note: Photo is of the newest addition to the Thomas household, my Irish Setter puppy Hudson. New life in the house during autumn is the perfect way to spend an autumn in Indiana!