Happy September Equinox!

Passing the summer to those in the Southern Hemisphere - Look after it for us!



(source)

Yaaaaaaay!!!
It's been a mild winter, and summer is already here before spring even started, but I am thrilled.
(there's even talk about maybe bringing back daylight savings time, which was cancelled a few years ago, a terrible mistake in many people's opinions....)

Oh gosh, I *so* wish we’d cancel DST!

I'm dreading the coming week. The "spring forward" transition is always the harder one for me to cope with.

It's the Fall Equinox where I live. The Stellar's Jays showed up a couple of weeks ago on schedule, reminding us that equinox was near and scolding us for whatever it is they think is wrong with the world.
They'll be gone soon enough, but they'll be back around the Spring Equinox without fail!

It's that time again! Funny - we've probably had the best weather of the 'summer' over the last couple of days - wall to wall sunshine.

Bye bye sun!

I'm always wondering where the summer went when the September Equinox arrives. I've certainly noticed the shortening days and the cooler mornings.

Hopefully everyone is working on stocking up for the winter, except all you southern hemisphere permies who are hopefully planning and planting your gardens!

Really liking the longer days already, but it's been the soggiest start to spring we've ever seen here. Lots of weeding and bed prep is getting deferred because I don't want to turn the soil into soup. Today's chores will most likely include finishing apple grafting (going to try the drill method) and planting willow poles on a mate's farm. At least until the next front moves in.

Years ago when I was a single parent with young children, I joined the local unitarian universalist community, because you need a community to teach values.

UUs have diverse roots, all the major religions, atheists, agnostics plus pagan and earth centered spirituality and then some!  This poem is one of my favorite artifacts from that era of my life.  As with everything UU, it would be easy to not even realize it is a hymn.  A friend attended with me one Sunday morning.  Afterwards commented it was more like a committee meeting!🤣
All references to deities have been revised out because UUs don’t agree on what to call a deity or even that one exists.  It’s a singular group!  And I retain a lot of affection for them.

Frame of reference is a temperate climate….

From Singing the Living Tradition, #73 here’s “A Chant for the Seasons” lyrics by Mark Belletini



(Autumn)
Summertime has turned the starwheel, autumn is upon us.
Sweet the angling sun, sweet upon the air the smell of blue mist rising.
Summertime has turned the starwheel, autumn is upon us.
Glorious the trees, glorious the sight of rust leaves falling, falling.
Summertime has turned the starwheel, autumn is upon us.

(Winter)
Autumn cold has turned the starwheel, winter is upon us.
Grey the windy storms, cold upon our cheeks the wet rain glistens, glistens.
Autumn cold has turned the starwheel, winter is upon us.
Leaping is the fire, golden in the glass the cider glows like amber.
Autumn cold has turned the starwheel, winter is upon upon us.

(Spring)
Winter rains have turned the starwheel, springtime is upon us.
Sharp the smell of loam, bursting in our eyes the turrets of the tulip.
Winter rains have turned the starwheel, springtime is upon us.
Greening is the grass; soft upon our brows the sunlight warm caresses.
Winter rains have turned the starwheel, springtime is upon us.

(Summer)
Vernal clouds have turned the starwheel, summer is upon us.
Gliding are the hawks, hovering above the hot and yellow hillside.
Vernal clouds have turned the starwheel, summer is upon us.
Crickets in the night, chirping in our ears the sound of moonlit music.
Vernal clouds have turned the starwheel, summer is upon us.


Autumn is my favorite, but as we all know they all reappear regularly 😊

To all the Permie Procrastinators out there(north of the equator), can you guess what day this is?  That's right guys it's the first day of Autumn, ready or not, the wheel has turned once more.

I'm sooooooo thankful that I get to enjoy another change of seasons!


Peace

It's that season again - time for me to dig my potatoes!

Wow! Already?

Autumn, bring it on!

I am definitely noticing the cooler nights and darker mornings! Mother Nature has worked hard all summer - she deserves a rest, although I hope she'll ripen a few more tomatoes for me first!

Jay Angler wrote:I am definitely noticing the cooler nights and darker mornings! Mother Nature has worked hard all summer - she deserves a rest, although I hope she'll ripen a few more tomatoes for me first!

Glad for the change-over to my favorite time of year!  Just astounded this year at how late the tomato ripening was/is.....but also how quickly things are catching up.  The official prediction for tonight is a low of 40⁰F......which is flexible enough to mean potential frost in some areas.  The tarps are at the ready.  Bring on the fall coolness and colors!...

oh thank GOODNESS! (although we still have what I hope is our last frost warning of the year for Wednesday).
This first half we only had 75 days without rain, and they're saying it will be even worse in the second half. Still, I'll take wet summer over wet winter, so happy Spring to those of us down under and happy fall to y'all up there!

Fall! Yay! I'm usually dreading the end of the growing season, but it's been so hot and dry. Today I was weeding grass out of the fall garden. It felt almost cool. Once done, I looked at the thermometer... 93 degrees F. But that is 10° cooler than it has been.

I'm sooo looking forward to the fall thunder storms.

We're having a wet start to spring (typical) after a dry winter (unusual). And now with the equinox upon us, we have a cold snap on the way and are expecting frost tomorrow night. Glad I haven't planted out anything tender yet. I've got the fire going and some corn and lime simmering for a pot of posole.

For the first time after a hot, dry summer, I felt a chill this morning, going out to open the chicken coop and feed them. 9 degrees Celsius. Welcome, Autumn!