Dakota Beacon

Finally -- it’s autumn. It’s officially, deliciously autumn. Three cheers for the new season! This is my time of year.

I have an ongoing love affair with autumn. Why do I love Thee? Let me count the ways.

I prefer the cooler season to hot summer. I especially love the outdoors on warm, sunny mornings listening to the transition from late summer to early autumn. Insects chirping and whining in the fields, geese honking overhead, the rustle of dry grass and falling leaves compose Nature’s symphony. Vivaldi could not replicate the charm.

Autumn is a gastronomic delight. Fresh garden produce has been available all summer long, but autumn is the crowing glory of the growing season. In our land of plenty there is an abundance of fruits and vegetables. There is something very special about serving up home grown produce fresh from the branch and vine. Everything from apples to wild fruits and berries come into season.

Then there is zucchini!! Everywhere you look you see zucchini. There is so much around that unnamed parties leave bags of the stuff in church foyers in hoping some needy person will quietly take it. One of the rules of gardening is to never give zucchini plants to a novice gardener. It’s risky business because it is so doggone easy to grow.

Just before the first freeze all tomatoes are picked. The green ones go into preserves and green tomato pie.

Autumn time is football time. Although I never played football, I did become a fan of the Washington Redskins when I lived in Northern Virginia. Now, I just appreciate watching teams compete without embracing a favorite team.

I admire athletic excellence and am fascinated with the physical prowess and coordination of team play. What a pleasure to watch the best of the best, the crème de la crème, competing in the arena.

Autumn is also the time when the Boys of Summer scramble to see who is best. First come the baseball playoffs, then the World Series when the matter is settled for another year. As with football, I was never much of a baseball player. But I am an excellent observer. And, as with football, I don’t necessarily support a favorite team. I just enjoy watching the best team win.

Autumn is a time of expectation, of anticipation. It portends a cascade of holidays starting with Labor Day. Then comes Columbus Day commemorating that famous Italian-American in American history. This is followed by Halloween, a wannabe national holiday commemorating who-knows-what.

Trick-or-Treat with its October surprises is an appropriate preface to Election Day. Veterans Day salutes our veterans as time solemnly marches on to Thanksgiving Day. Ol’ Turkey Day has morphed into something between a religious event, a family reunion and a progressive social cause.

Any way you slice it, it’s time to celebrate. Excitement mounts as the days point toward the hustle and bustle of Christmas and the beginning of a New Year.

Weeks ago late summer days melded into cooler nights. Labor Day really did signal the prelude to autumn and the coming change of seasons. Kids returned to school. The humming and the buzzing of unseen creatures in brown fields on warm days spoke of the coming change of seasons.

I have this ongoing love affair with autumn filled with special memories of good times and hope for the future.

Finally. Magnificent autumn is here in all its glory.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).