Change is in the air

I knew it the minute I woke up this morning.
Change is in the air.

The air feels different from home in the fall.
It fairly crackles with electric energy, so close to water.
The wind blows and blows, then settles down, then blows and blows again, skittering the summer funk right out.

The water changes to a deep, deep sapphire blue.
The Fishing Derby starts. Stats are posted everywhere. The coffee shop, the local dairy dip hangout, the papers.  People talk and discuss, over checkout counters in grocery stores.

Yards sales are hot and heavy Saturdays and Sundays, but especially so Columbus Day week-end, when it's the last chance to clean and clear before the winter sets in.


You can drive to get the morning off-island papers or Dippin Donuts or visit Mocha Mott's or Espresso Love or the Black Dog Cafe for morning joe without stopping for a single light. As a matter of fact, there are no stop lights, except a lone blinker, on the road to the airport.

And even though the leaves haven't changed, the trees know what's coming - their leaves glossy, crisp, lovely, overhanging like heavy arbors along most roads, waiting for the first good rain to change color and drop.

Weekly potluck and family dinners begin. A chance to not lose touch, when it's so easy to pull oneself in like a clam, shutting off contact in the colder months. Isolation is common on the island. So is alcohol and substance abuse in the winter. Stiff constitutions and healthy outlooks are vital to living a balanced life here. But there is an attitude of checking in, looking after, doing for others that is apparent all year long, but most evident when fall appears - a part of small community life. It's like the circling of wagons, fending off the ills of cold weather island living

The sunlight shifts and softens. Soon the stark gray water-reflected, winter light will appear. But not now. Not here. 

And I can finally get a parking space on Main Street.

Morning Glory Farm has its pumpkin patch and homemade zucchini bread ready. Hubby is here this weekend. I think we will take a drive and pick out a pumpkin and a mum for the steps today. :)

Have a good one.