This week I’m back taking a cue from John at The Sound of One Hand Typing and his weekly writing prompts for a bit of inspiration. This time around it was to write about what we were looking forward to next month.
That would be October already. Where’s 2024 gone? October’s never been one of my favorite few months on the calendar, but as with all months, it has its charms and own appeal. Besides, any time we get to go to the calendar and flip the page, that’s something to be thankful for to begin with.
Of course, not to be flippant about it, but I can hope for a month when one country won’t be detonating remote-controlled explosives to wipe out people they don’t like as well as hundreds of folk who just happen to be going about their daily business around said people. And in turn, for those masses not to figure the best answer would be to fire a volley of missiles back in the country’s direction to take out a few of their schools and hospitals. But with the state of the world that’s the sort of thing that might require an old lamp full of one benevolent genie at our beck and call to accomplish.
On a personal level though… well, unlike the last three or four years, it won’t be playoff baseball since my beloved Blue Jays are playing out the string with a losing record and will be heading to their own winter homes once the regular season ends on the last weekend of this month. Sigh. So goes the life of any sports fan. Of course, I’ll probably still watch some playoff games, but it’s not quite so compelling when “my” team (nor my sweetie’s…she backs another team, but one having the same fate as mine this year) isn’t involved.
What I am looking forward to with anticipation, much to my younger self’s surprise, is some cooler weather. Some days when I can go out in an ordinary pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt in the afternoon and not be soaked in sweat after five minutes. A night or two when we can open the window and get a breath of fresh air blowing through. Maybe even give the AC an hour or two downtime!
Thinking about it, what jumped out at me was “perspective”. Because now October means something quite different to me than what it did back when I lived in Canada.
There, of course I still looked forward to the post-season baseball, but all in all, it was a mildly depressing month, because it meant a sure and steady descent into a long and cold winter. There would be some nice days, almost certainly, but probably rather few. Most October days tend to be brisk and frequently dreary, drizzly and dank where I came from. The few nice “Indian Summer” days would be welcomed, but even they had their own downside. With the sun and rising thermometer would also arise swarms of Yellow Jackets and other wasps that would make a nice walk outside a perilous pursuit it seemed. One could forget about sitting out on a patio to enjoy the sun and a cold Oktoberfest brew or tasty brat. Here, they don’t seem any more prevalent than any of the other 350 or so days of the year the temp’s risen above 50 degrees.
The two things that were highlights up there in October were Thanksgiving and fall colors. Because, yes, in Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, not a snowball’s throw from Christmas at November’s tail-end. That still seems peculiar to me; eat your turkey then put up your Christmas tree! So, second Monday of October meant a nice meal, typically with one of my parents and some of their friends, plus a day off with pay (or else a day with wild overtime pay if I volunteered to work). Not so different than fourth Thursday of November here actually, it’s still a day of a nice meal and family time, just a different page on the calendar.
Now the colors… people up on either side of the Great Lakes are really spoiled in that department. I was somewhat aware of that, but became much more so when I moved! As dreary as Ontario Octobers usually were, you could rely on having some dazzling colors and postcard-ready scenes on nearly every block. The predominance of maples which turn neon orange or flag red in fall, in every forest, city park and front lawn alike, with a few of the yellow-leaved birches, rusty-clad beeches mixed in and sprinkle of truly ever-green evergreens in their midst create landscapes that I would imagine many newcomers can scarcely believe are even of this planet! It didn’t matter precisely where I was up there, or what I was doing, I’d always try to be out for at least an afternoon and run through a roll or two of film, trying to capture the ultimate fall scene. Never did, but I got a lot of pretty spectacular ones. Maybe some year I’ll go on a jaunt back there for one more go at it.
Here, by comparison, the colors also “peak” around the local Thanksgiving – late November, early December perhaps. But to say “peak” is a bit of an exaggeration. They are rather second-rate by comparison. Live Oaks go dull brownish, pecans work hard at showing a little yellow before they dump their leaves and half the other deciduous trees figure it’s warm enough that they might as well hang onto their coat and let them just drop off one or two leaves at a time throughout the year.
So, October, not one of my real favorite months but when it comes down to it, isn’t what really matters is finding something great in it. I keep a ceramic pumpkin on my desk that has “thankful” written across it. Ironically, it’s the one month of the year no one questions it; its close to standard decorating fare come October. But I leave it out year-round. To remind myself. Finding something great and to be grateful for each and every month of the year is what it is all about. I hope you do just that yourselves!
Everydave Life 