Dear Reader:

Can’t we just feel the transition in the air now between Indian Summer and Autumn? I feel the change around me in every one of my senses…smell, sight, sound, taste, and touch.

If you have ever wondered exactly what Indian Summer means and its origin ….wonder no longer. Indian summer is a term often used to describe a warm, calm spell of weather that occurs in autumn…usually between the end of September through November.

The exact origins of the phrase are uncertain, several writers have speculated it may originally have referred to a spell of warm, hazy autumn conditions that allowed Native American Indians to continue hunting.

Whatever the origin of the phrase, it evidently first was used in the eastern United States. The first recorded use of the phrase appears in a letter written by a Frenchman called John de Crevecoeur dated 17 January 1778. In his description of the Mohawk country he writes “Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm which is called the Indian summer.”

Our interval, following these past rainy days, has brought us slightly cooler weather which feels more like autumn than Indian Summer….though, as we all know, temperature is relative to location and in most of the United States…our seventies weather would certainly be considered Indian Summer for our northern state-mates.

All I know is that I am loving it and all the sensations of fall that are falling around me. As I type with my window wide open I can hear the rustle of leaves and especially the pinging noise of acorns hitting the pavement/driveway outside my window.

I have a new friend….Skippy the Squirrel. Every afternoon he comes looking for acorns and I can hear him munching before I actually see him with my eyes.

He makes me chuckle with his funny antics….especially one afternoon last week when the acorns were still attached to a fallen branch. He had to pick the whole limb up with leaves and acorns still intact and  push it against a tree to get the momentum to pry the acorns free from the limb. Smart Skippy!

I like writing October…it is something about starting a word with an ‘O’ that feels like a sled flying down a snowy slope. Don’t we remember, in school, practicing writing words in cursive and feeling that wonderful flow and rhythm with certain words. I sure do.

A word starting with a ‘L’ was always my favorite. I remember writing words like lovely, longevity, laughter, and longingly. I enjoyed writing my address…especially the town and state….Laurens, South Carolina. I always slanted the ‘L’ words to the right, as if a strong breeze had suddenly come up and pushed them a little off-kilter in that direction.

*Don’t get me started on the cessation of teaching cursive handwriting in public schools….my tirade can be scary. How will children ever feel the flow of words again…how will they ever be able to read historical first-hand accounts like the original Declaration of Independence or Preamble to the Constitution. What are educators thinking? Whew…okay…I have stopped. I feel better…got that off my chest!

Transitions periods, whether seasonal or personal, can leave us feeling somewhat unsettled and unsure. These intervals are like the lines between two dots on either end….we know we need to find a starting point and an ending point…but we aren’t sure how long the transitional line will or should last.

Like Skippy the Squirrel, sometimes we just have to problem-solve our way to the next ending point where hopefully a reward is waiting.

So until tomorrow…Transition periods are like bridges….no matter how intimidating they might appear…we must learn to cross them to get to the rewards of the next stage in our lives. And believe me…the stage I am in right now…surpasses my wildest dreams!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Honey sent me this picture of Indian Summer with all the beautiful oranges by a local artist James Davis from Lake Lure, NC….it expresses what Indian Summer should be.