I miss the Arkansas leaves this time of year. Texas trees never know what to wear in Autumn. We are lucky to get a couple of weeks at Thanksgiving with reds and yellows; unless you count the few yards where some brave soul has dared to plant a more showy tree and has taken the time to nurture it. Even my red oak was hardly red last year – and my husband is the “tree whisperer” (he gives our trees organic fertilizer and lots of water all year at the perfect times).
I’ll take this cooler weather, though… and I can make do with brown (it is one of my favorite colors). Some orange would be nice, too (I heart orange).
Fall is when my love for nature starts again. Summer here is unforgiving. I’m OK with viewing it through a window pane.
Texas school kids get the raw end of the deal being cooped up in spring and fall when the temperature here is perfect… and having to spend summers inside to avoid being cooked like beef jerky in the blistering heat. I’ve always said we should do a 1 month Christmas break, 1 month spring break, and 1 month fall break – instead of a summer break. The cool thing about homeschooling is – you can do this if you want to school year-round (and it would probably be a better academic choice, too… less “holes” if you have less time off to rot your brain in front of a screen).
As we fight the urge to fly out in the coming 70 degree sunshine with all the October Migrant Monarchs over-head… let me share with you this beautiful poem I discovered on the internet tonight… don’t you just love the internet?
When Autumn Leaves Begin to Fall
When autumn leaves begin to fall
I think of Him most of all
Colors bursting with the sun
Rays shine down on everyone.
There is a leafy autumn smell
I walk on softness where they fell
Floating gently to the ground
Touching down without a sound.
Animal are scurrying to and fro
Instinctively the creatures know
The leaves scatterered everywhere
Beautifies a place once bare.
Rising up to the bluest sky
A tree looks down, creaks a sigh
Nestled in her hollowed place
Life will wait through winter’s race.
When the tress at last have shed
Sturdy branches though not dead
Beneath the earth roots hold tight
Tall and stately through the night.
When autumn leaves begin to fall
The Father orchestrates it all
Blooms in waiting seem to say
He is coming back someday.
Again dressed in a formal gown
Branches filled and hanging down
See the miracle of God once more
Birds leap from her branch to soar.
Here I stand in wonder of this
A soft wind blows to me a kiss
My spirit tells my mind to hush
Peace abounds in Christ for us.
The seasons change, come and go
But this is what I truly know
When autumn leaves begin to fall
I think of Him most of all.
by Kathleen Higham
From book: So Close to God
