As August draws to a close, autumn is rapidly approaching for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

 

I consider myself fortunate to I live in circumstances where the calendar is not the best way to tell when autumn is arriving.  Every year around this time, we start engaging in some sign-seeking rituals which occur at multiple points through the day:  In the morning, we go to our windows, and feel for that “cold snap” in the air.  In the afternoon, we’ll look up to the tops of the mountains to see if there is any orange visible.  Around sunset, we look to see in what direction the long shadows are pointing.  At night, we return to our windows and sniff the air — there is a certain smell (perhaps decaying leaves).

 

Of course, there are other signs which portend the arrival of autumn:  The children go back to school, and we hear the sounds of school buses going down our street.  Local college football becomes the talk of the town.  Clients call to schedule portrait sessions.  We turn on more lights in the evening because it is getting dark earlier.  Television programming gets refreshed, and there are more commercials instructing us on what it means to dress fashionably.

 

The arrival of each season has its attractions but, for me, no other season is more anticipated than autumn.