The combines are rolling, pumpkins are showing up on front porches, and hopefully the lights will once again light up Cardinal Field.
All this points to one thing – Tuesday is the first day of autumn, my favorite season.
Even the name autumn sounds better than the other seasons.
Spring and summer are probably tied for second place in the favorite name game, and of course winter is dead last.
Autumn has a calming effect on me. It’s the time of year when things start to slow down and we have a little more time to enjoy the things around us, especially the outdoors.
This spring and summer Mary and I have traveled darn near every county road in Rock County on our Ranger.
I know this is going to sound a little corny (pun intended) but as we drove throughout the county the last four months or so, we both really noticed the different array of colors our rural setting has to offer from spring to autumn.
Early on, black was the predominant color in the countryside, but not for long. Soon shades of green covered the black landscape. Not just green, but different shades of green. I never really had noticed how the same field of corn can have different shades of green depending on which way the planter was going when the seeds were planted.
Nothing compares to the shades of color autumn brings to the table. We’re all aware of the spectacular changing of colors on the trees, but the changing of colors in the corn and bean fields is pretty darn cool.
This past week the colors in the bean fields were my favorite. Different shades of brown with a little yellow sprinkled in, with a green grass waterway snaking its way through the fields, and you have a color palette that even Benjamin Moore would be proud of.
The only bad thing about autumn is that it’s followed by winter, and that means those colorful fields will soon be white.