Laura Emerson
Some people find autumn and winter depressing and prefer spring and summer.
I am not among that group. To me, the brevity of a gorgeous, Alaskan fall is a very visible message to appreciate each day, each morning, each rapidly changing view. Part of the reason is psychological: Because THIS WILL NOT LAST, so enjoy it. Part of the reason is practical: the changes of fall and winter contribute to the fecundity of spring and summer.
Sometimes, we need to be hit on the head with important reminders like this. Autumn does both. It feels transient but its benefits are long lasting.
Sadly, I have two friends whose cancers have metastasized. Both are using phrases like, “I will never see X or Y again.” I think of them as I watch the leaves drop to the ground. Is this their last autumn? Some of us know when death is right around the corner, but others are caught off guard. We are lucky who enjoy a springtime youth, a summer’s middle age, and transitions to autumnal and then winter’s old age. Not everyone does. Fall drives that message home.
So I luxuriate in the beauties of the season. I stare in awe of electric yellow birch and larch trees (the latter is the only conifer that sheds its needles), framed by purple mountains. I inhale the earthy aroma of highbush cranberries and the tannic scents of crispy leaves as my boots shuffle through the accumulating piles of red, orange, yellow, and brown that flutter gracefully to the ground. I harvest rosehips and berries and potatoes and horseradish root.
Besides the beauty, this annual blanket of fall leaves is as important to the ecosystem as elders are important to younger members of society. The skirts below trees and bushes blanket them from cold and add biomass to the soil. The leaves deter weeds. From the trails that do not need the leaves, I rake piles to strew over my vegetable and flower gardens as mulch. Over the winter, the leaves break down under the snow weight to lighten the soil the following year. Voles and insects burrow beneath the leaves for protection from winter weather. With so many benefits of autumn leaves, I don’t know why anyone rakes them into a garbage bag to be carted off. They are valuable to every plant and critter in your yard.
Looking upward from the lake shore, I see termination dust (initial snow) coating the cap of the 4600 foot mountain west of our lake and draping the 5000 foot mountain range to our north. Each 1000 feet of elevation is about 5 degrees cooler than below. So after each rain or fog here, we watch the snowline creep downhill until it envelops us, too. The natural world is our thermometer and barometer. Mine is beautiful.
October 10 we awoke in the dark to the sound of hundreds of geese, swans and cranes vectoring south. In the early morning light, we saw a flock of a hundred or more bright white geese resting on our lake. They huddled so close to one another that they looked like an island. I don’t think my dog, who gets very excited about individual water fowl, could even interpret what that mass was. The timing of their flight south was clear when the light lifted and we saw the first dusting of snow in our yard as well as deeper incursions on the mountain tops. These huge migratory departures in fall and arrivals in spring punctuate our year more decisively than any calendar date.
In this short and dramatic season, I know that some morning later this month, we will awaken to a black and white world. Technicolor autumn will disappear for a year. For others, this is their last season. So, for me and for them, I savor every image of these last few days of evanescent beauty.