Fall is in the Air

Fall is that time of year especially in the South where the festivals pop up every weekend.  There are apple festivals all over north Georgia and many farms and orchards to stop in to buy or pick fruit or vegetables.  Fields of pumpkins or roadside markets to obtain one for the kids to carve are along many roadways here.  It takes one back to simpler times where friends and families gather to go pick apples, peaches, or whatever is ready to harvest.  Nights are getting cooler, mornings are getting to the point that frost briefly appears in the early morning hours until the sun peaks over the distant horizon and the beautiful transition from night to day happens once again.

We all hear it . . . we see it in the changes as we walk through our daily routines.  Sometimes it is subtle when it lasts for several weeks like here in the South as you see a few leaves turn red or yellow and over the next several weeks.  The trees on the hillsides and mountains come alive with color.  When I lived in Alaska things seemed to be at a much faster progression, sometimes it just jumped out at you overnight.  Everything was green then you woke up and all the trees were yellow.  Alaska had very few red leaves on the mountainsides, very few maples or oak trees grow there.  Fall seemed to last only about two days and the wind came blowing all the leaves off the trees.  This left everything brownish until the snow fell bringing the white of winter back once again.

With all that has happened in my life the last year or so I have been thinking a lot about the changes lately and what brings on those variances that make up the fabric of our lives.  Do we bring it on ourselves or by chance did we allow it to just happen totally unaware that in an instant (or over a longer period) things changed.  Was it by choice or circumstance that our lives drastically change for some of us?

In my life music has always been with me going to the many places I’ve traveled and in my iPhone and iPod I have a collection of music that I constantly listen to.  I may just be in my car going between places, on airplanes or listening to my favorites on snowmachines or while I’m working making the time pass with a song in my heart.  I have certain music that I listen to every morning that hopefully sets the mood of my day and others that I pull up from times gone by that bring back certain memories or events in my life where the music that was associated with those times.

Music is dear to us and we tend to hold onto it while technology has forced us to move from format to format making it simple now to carry around a thousand songs on a small device . . . gone are the reel to reel, 8 track, cassettes and our beloved vinyl records from our youth.  We have moved from a 78 rpm to 33-1/3 rpm to the infinite now with the mp3 and other high tech devices.  Quality has improved but also taken a backseat from the days where we had rooms set up for that audiophile perfect sound system.

I am moving away from my topic so I will bring it back on track but you can see that I love music and its place in our lives.

Oddly, I have been feeling this a lot lately . . . how about you?

Reflections on the water like shadows in my mind
Speak to me of passing days and nights and passing time
The falling leaves are whispering winters on its way
I close my eyes remembering the warmth of yesterday

It seems a shame to see September swallowed by the wind
And more than that its oh so sad to see the summer end
And though the changing colors are a lovely thing to see
If it were mine to make the change I think I’d let it be . . .

But I don’t remember hearing anybody asking me . . .

 I first heard this song live in October 1973 at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.  It was the first concert John Denver played there and over the years he would play 17 times at four different venues in Atlanta.  I never missed one and for many of us his music brought meaning and a change of consciousness to our lives. 

Those lyrics (Fall) are part of a larger collection of songs called Season Suite which included, Summer, Fall, Winter, Late Winter Early Spring (When everybody goes to Mexico), and Spring.

I guess like the seasons our lives have those same elements with different forces affecting us and through them the changes occur.  Some slowly, some bending or shaping our attitudes, and other times breaking us (events in our lives or to those around us) only to pick ourselves up and grow from the experience of it all.

Is change a good thing or a bad thing for us to experience?  Probably a little of both but one thing is for sure . . . as long as we are still changing . . . God allows us one more day to experience and serve our fellow man.

“But I don’t remember hearing anybody asking me . . .”

Ice