Every year about this time, I am so darn tired of summer that I can barely wait for it to be autumn. This year, I don’t feel that way quite as much as I usually do. It’s been cooler than usual and rainier than usual. Very few sleepless nights due to the heat.

I was born in August and I’ve always joked that is why I tolerate the warmer weather better, but love the cooler weather so much more. Winter chills me to the bone, but I’ll still take it over summer any day. I know, that’s just so wrong to most people’s thinking. However, fall is my most favorite season.

I love the cool mornings and chill nights. I love to watch the leaves in the trees change color. For some reason at this time of year the moon looks like it lives in my backyard. And the air is crisp and sharp and alive in my nose.

I can watch the days go by and the changing of the guard. The grackles leave. The starlings become fewer. The red-winged blackbirds depart. The crows start coming in again. The doves hang around all year round though.

In the fall, you can almost feel the earth and its creatures settling down and getting ready for winter. Gone is the drive to build nests and lay eggs; to put aside provisions and lay on fat. The cottontails have all grown up and are starting to put on their winter fur. Lizards are digging their holes for hibernation. Dark Eyed Juncos will arrive soon and peck out a living in the relative warmth of a high elevation plains winter. Abiding is now the work of the day.

Before long, the crickets will quiet and the flies will depart. The snakes will rest in their rocky crevices and deep dark holes, but the coyotes will continue to prowl and the owls to hoot at night. The squirrels will put on their winter coats.

In the fall, our little piece of the world is getting ready for a long and well deserved vacation from the hustle and bustle, the hard work of reproducing and raising the young.

I think what I like best about autumn is that we leave the constant and unchanging heat of summer behind for something more energizing and lively. You never really know what’s coming. The day could be cold and require a sweater. Or it could be a bit like the summer so recently departed and nothing more than short sleeves are needed for that refreshing walk in the afternoon among the fallen leaves turned red and golden. For me, it’s like being born again, fresh every day.

Photos and quotes courtesy of Brilliant Oral Care and Keep Inspiring Me respectivley