Autumn or Fall?

GOING NATURE’S WAY
By Kate Crowley
We have now officially said farewell to summer.  On September 23rd the sun had moved far enough south that we had nearly equal hours of daylight and night time.  Now it’s just a gradual, but inevitable slide into the darkness (a bleak description I know).  I am already looking forward to December 21st.   But as I thought about the change of season I wondered why and how we call this particular season, both Autumn and Fall; the only season that has two words to describe it. I had to do some research to satisfy my curiosity.
Turns out that for most of recorded human history there was recognition of just two seasons – winter and summer, the exception being the Chinese who divided the year into what we now call spring and autumn.  The word ‘autumn’ is Latin in origin and was first used in the 14th Century, replacing the term ‘harvest’. The use of Fall appears in the 16th or 17th century, depending on who you consult.  One of the first citations for ‘fall’ in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from a poem written by Sir Walter Raleigh. Some say that ‘Spring’ came into use first, referring to the spring of the leaf and then naturally, the corollary, the fall of the leaf.  It might be noted that Fall is not used by the British and by the 19th century was considered an Americanism.
Living in the northern portions of the northern hemisphere we live with four distinct seasons, something we can measure our lives by, providing anticipation and appreciation for the departure of one and the arrival of each new season.  In warmer climates seasons are divided between dry and wet. Fall and Spring only make sense in places where trees lose their leaves after summer and replace them in spring.  This happens in the Southern hemisphere too, just at opposite times of the year from us. 
I thought about this as I drove into our driveway today and noticed all the acorns lying on the ground.  By driving in and out we are making life easier for the squirrels, blue jays and turkeys, as the shells are smashed and the nuts are spread about.  Mixed in with the acorns are the ocher colored needles that are dropping too.  Soon the leaves from the oak and maple trees will join the mix.
September has been unusually warm and it has slowed the color change in the leaves, but the forecast calls for colder temps arriving with October.  All it takes is one good, blustery rainstorm or a frosty night and the leaves will begin to rain down.  In our yard, the first to succumb are the birch trees.  Their bright golden leaves twist and turn under the bluest of skies and settle on the ground where they will remain until spring.  We rarely rake the leaves in the fall, believing they serve as mulch for the grass and flower beds.  The oak leaves are the last to fall, usually waiting until late in the winter and always settling into our ski tracks.  They have the look and feel of old leather and rattle during winter snowstorms.
Everyone has their favorite season.  As I get older I have a harder time saying I prefer one over the other, but my 11 year old grandson Aren told me a few weeks ago that Fall was his favorite.  The things that stand out for him are the colorful leaves, the warm weather gradually turning colder, raking the leaves into piles to jump into, Halloween and even going back to school.  He said, “I don’t know how, but it just gives me this good feeling.” 
Whether you call it Autumn or Fall, I hope it gives you a good feeling too.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sense of Place

Image
GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley I am intrigued by the idea of Sense of Place; to feel completely ‘at home’ in one particular place.  I have read that people who grow up on the Great Plains feel claustrophobic when they are in forested environments and in reverse,  people who have grown up surrounded by forest find the openness of the plains unnerving, with nothing to break the view to the horizon. I grew up in the city, but the Minnehaha Creek and Parkway were just two blocks away and I spent countless hours playing and exploring there.  The city lakes were within biking distance. The Mississippi River was just blocks away from the apartment where I lived the first four years of my life.  When I was 36 I married Mike and moved to our current home and it was perfect.  When my dad first visited us in our new home, he said, “Kate must think she’s died and gone to heaven”.  This is where I am supposed to be.  Scientists who have studied the e...
Read more

The Munger Trail - Willow River to Moose Lake

Image
The Willard Munger Trail - named for one of the environmental heroes of MN is our neighborhood bike trail and the place I get my biking exercise and conditioning.  I thought it would be good to share some of its highlights and pleasures.  So here is a look at the trail and what I enjoy. The small towns that prospered during the days when the trail was a railroad track and the country moved by Steam Engine are just a shadow of what they used to be, but that shadow is filled with surprises and fun places to explore if you give yourself the time to engage in the setting, as well as the peddling.  Willow River is our little home town and the Mercantile is over 100 years old and still meets many of our needs.  It is a place for refreshments and Peggy Sue's is a local restaurant that makes a great lunch or dinner stop. There is also a local park that provides you with a sense of the RR past. The trail is very straight like most RR grades and lacks hills except ...
Read more

Rain threatens birds

Image
WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley As the floodwaters recede, a stunned and relieved populace can finally stop holding their collective breath. Throughout southern Carlton County and all of Pine County there is a sense of disbelief that only four years after a major flood event, it has happened again.  At our home we measured over 8” of rain in less than 24 hours. This is what the word deluge was meant to describe. Others said it felt like they were in the middle of a monsoon. Thankfully there was no loss of life in our region, but property damage and loss was significant for people who have in some cases finally recovered and remodeled after the flood of 2012, which was said to be a once in 100 years flood when 8 to 10 inches of rain were spread over three days. Here in Willow River, there was fear that the small dam holding back the waters of the river would fail, with catastrophic results. Roads throughout the two counties (and into Wisconsin) were hard hit and the cost to re...
Read more