Early September was hot and sticky with thick nights of relentless rain and cannon shots of thunder. Heat refused to yield her grip without a fight. Then, suddenly, she fled without a word. The window slammed down onto cool nights as a northern high front brought days of low humidity and robin egg sky. There just seemed to be no progression. No note, no last dinner. Just a sudden change.

I am glad for the change.

This summer was one of personal malaise and no gain - that to explain it would be tedious. I rarely mowed the lawn and let my gardens go feral – partly out of laziness, excuses of painful joints, and a misguided sense of a mixture of defiance, defeat, and avoidance.

But I’ve also had some great opportunities to interact with friends old and new, and those graces have helped me keep looking at the big picture through the small day to day joys that connect us – dinners, giving people directions, moving furniture, arguing politics over coffee and giving a stranger the time I had left on my parking meter in Albany. Resetting tombstones on a local, Quaker Cemetery and helping with the Rider’s Mills Historical Society’s annual art show. I am warmed by the community I have here. And my online Scrabble buddies occupy too much of my time, but my relationships with them make me smile even though they mostly slaughter me ;-)

Time spoiled me and since I squandered the gift, the piper is coming to call. I need to find a job after 14 months of nothing of consequence. I won’t lie about possibilities. So far, there are none. I’ve never been in this position before.

But this new season has awakened the squirrel in me. The time has come to take care of my own nuts and make sure the nest is warm for winter. There is wood to stack and windows to caulk and tighten up the house while the weather is decent.

The Harvest Moon is high in the sky tonight. The closest full moon to the Autumn Equinox. The man in the moon is benevolent, and doesn’t judge - he simply reflects back what we are. Then we get to go inside and decide how to deal with what he sees.

I don’t know what winter will bring. I am still out of work, there are taxes to pay, bills to meet – the outcome is precarious.

The Autumn leaves will start to fall. Change will start to come……

gm