October Memories

October, here's to you.
Here's to the heady aroma of the frost-kissed apples,
the winey smell of ripened grapes,
the wild-as-the-wind smell of hickory nuts
and the nostalgic whiff of that first wood smoke.

Ken Weber

 

October is one of those months that can easily cast a spell on you and not only because within it dwells the most "bewitching" of festivals. It is, I think,one of nature's most brilliant and colorful seasons. Orange and yellow hues are everywhere as the leaves change and begin to fall to the ground. Cooler days and frostier nights come along with the changing leaves, the smell of the air is crisp...the harbingers of the upcoming winter. And the days have become much shorter, the nighttime arriving earlier, and darkness now has a greater reign over October's eerie and unearthly ambiance.

"O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away." -   Robert Frost, October

Halloween brings with it memories of pumpkins, goblins, ghosts and witches. Everyone had jack=o-lanterns displayed in their windows. We decorated our paper bags and waited until dark to go cruising throughout the neighborhood. Once in a great while we'd hear a tale that some 'big kid' stole some 'little kid's' candy bag and ran away, but there was nothing more dangerous than that. No razor blades in apples...no poison in the candy bars. Things were so much simpler back then...in a time when my biggest worry was what which character I was going to be for the upcoming festivities. My imagination, so much less encumbered, saw and heard the cackling witches as they sliced through the sky on their broomsticks.  Ten o’clock was our bewitching hour, and we returned home with bags filled candy. Included in the treats were homemade candy, popcorn balls and apples. “I got some dollar bills!” I cried out with excitement, my face flushed with joy.  

Like magic, this time of year makes me forget all of my worries by allowing the fun and beauty of the season take over for once a year, every October, we're granted a chance to get back in touch with that inner child that still lurks inside us somewhere...to escape just a little from all of the responsibilities that weigh upon our shoulders. October offers us a chance to be childlike in our wonder and a time to get caught up, in kid-like fashion, in the enjoyment of the festivities and decorations of the season. And it's an opportunity to allow ourselves to be frightened by the monsters of myth and the legends from the past which is a lot more fun than being terrorized by the monsters of the present. 

I've never known anyone yet who doesn't suffer
a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around. We're all eight years old again and anything is possible.

Sue Grafton