I know lots of people think spring in the best season of the year. And spring is great. Stuff starts growing, flowers begin blooming, and the weather is nice. But here in Central Texas, fall is my favorite.
I begin looking forward to fall in July. Sometimes in June. The wonderful springtime rains have come to a halt. The temperature has begun creeping up towards one hundred. If I want the plants in my yard (grass, flowers, herbs, even trees) to live, not just to thrive but to live, we have to turn on the sprinklers. The water bill goes up, along with the electric bill (air conditioning).
When the first cool day arrives, maybe in September, I get all excited and begin to put away the warm-weather clothes and pull out the cool-weather things. Which is ridiculous. The first cool day is always followed by lots more warm and hot days. I know that. I know that. I know that. But I get pulled in every year.
My wait might be over. It’s been in the 60’s for a few days. And it’s rained quite a bit, so the temps have stayed down. It’s a little dreary, but that’s a nice change from BLAZING HEAT!!
The yard looks great. Places that don’t get adequately watered by the sprinklers are greening back up. Plants that have looked tired and limp have plumped up and look healthy. It’s a joy to sit outside again, and read. Well, except for the squirrels, but that’s another story.
The crepe myrtle
And I don’t mind raking. The pecan tree is losing leaves, and the white oak in the side front yard has dropped a few, but is just now turned the beautiful gold. The crepe myrtle has a few lovely red leaves. By Thanksgiving, it might have turned completely. I’ll let you know.
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- The bougainvillea that hung like limp laundry suddenly came to itself and has bloomed prodigeously
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- I bought this sweet thing years ago. When I checked out, I asked what it was and the salesclerk said, “Chrysanthemum.” “Oh,” I said, disappointed. “I bought it because I liked the foliage.” “Then enjoy it for the foliage,” she said. Those little buds will be the flowers it produces. And they aren’t at all much bigger than the buds. So, I *am* enjoying it for the foliage.
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- Yes, cute little pomegranates on the dwarf pomegranate plant
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- This is an impatiens from the spring, heartily hanging in there through the summer and now bursting with bloom again in the cooler weather.
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- This is Pineapple Sage. It started as a tiny sprout and has grown and grown over the years. The red blooms happen in the fall. It will freeze back to the ground in January, and pop right back out in the spring. When you rub the leaves, your fingers really do smell like pineapple!
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- Last spring, a friend gave me some zinnia seeds. Peter and I planted them all across the edge of the side flower beds. Nothing happened. Then a month or so ago, I noticed something blooming. Yes, indeed, one lone zinnia had grown and bloomed. It is blooming still, five or six blossoms on that one stem.
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- Yes, looks like I’m going to be able to harvest a couple of green peppers. Not a huge crop, but nice to have.
Celebrate the Harvest Festival each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters each autumn when you pick your fruit.
Exodus 34:22 (Contemporary English Version)
In fall, the leaves begin to fall from the trees, and the ladders are for climbing up and harvesting your fruit.
Peter won the Springtime segment, when the leaves come out and the flowers appear.
Years (and years) ago, I would buy a new game each year for the family to play during the holidays. Some were great successes. Others, abysmal failures. One, was a game from Germany. The game, “Fruhling, Sommer, Herbst und Winter,” came with instructions in German, English, French, and Dutch. It was a game about seasons, and you could play just one season, or you could play your way through all four seasons. After we played it the first (and maybe only time as a family), the boys said, “Well, hmmm. Not bad. Not as bad as the Bee Game.” It has been pulled out on occasion over the years, and last Sunday evening, Peter was all revved up and obviously not on the verge of going to sleep. We played three rounds of “Hi-Ho Cherrio,” and then I got the Seasons game out. It’s pretty interesting and has some unusual set-ups and some cooperative parts. We played Autumn, Winter, and Spring, and then it really was bedtime.