Thursday, September 2, 2010

Through The Overgrown Arbor


Through The Overgrown Arbor

Sitting behind the school bus I watch as the doors swing open and, one after the other, bedraggled students who had left their houses in freshly pressed fashion only hours before, now tumble out weary, wrinkled and limp. 
 It’s just too hot to already be back in school. 
 How well I remember my own long ago days when the air hung overcoat heavy and the soft and constant murmur of the fans drowned out all serious thought.  I would stare out the classroom’s open windows and watch as my imagination floated away to more salubrious climes.
 I wished, how I wished, for Autumn.
And the teacher could tell by my faraway gaze and would tap on my shoulder to say,
 “Be careful, Pamela. Don’t wish your life away”. 
Her warning was wise, but I couldn’t help it.  All the enthusiastic Carpe diems in the world could never render a miserably hot Summer palatable to me, and as no Summer has been more miserably hot than this one, I have again been caught, more than once, gazing out the windows, wishing for the fall.

 I am weary of the tyrannical heat that captured the garden and made the flowers wince.  Weary of seeing the ever optimistic white dog bolt from the house every morning, only to be drenched in disappointment by the overbearing air.
My soul needs the crispness, the sweetness, of Autumn.
  I need to welcome a wide-awake light into each of my rooms - a light sharp enough to slice through the ponderous gloom of the summer and clear out the hot haze that has covered my mind.
I need to bake apple pies and plant yellow chrysanthemums in mossy stone planters.  
I need to buy blue notebooks and yellow pencils and write down my dreams.
I need to see stacks of firewood and fields of orange pumpkins.
I need to smell cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
And I need to follow the white dog on a run through the woods.

Many days I have wished to end this long Summer journey - to pass through the overgrown arbor into the fresh, clean light of a September day.
The calendar page has finally turned.
Happy, Happy September!

Painting above by Santiago Rusinol i Prats

38 comments:

  1. Dear Pamela, This is such an imaginative and evocative piece of writing which expresses so well what, I believe, so many people think at this time of year. But, summer is over, and today, the day of your posting, the air does feel different and already one's thoughts are turning inwards to autumn and winter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Guess Edward will welcome the arrival of fall even more than you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the painting and your way to welcome the fall.

    Have a really nice day !

    xo
    Anci

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy September to you Pamela, it sounds as though you had yearnings for the Scottish highlands as a school girl.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i love september too, not only because its my birthday this month. it was our first day of spring, today. finally winter is gone and i won't pine for it again until summer becomes unbearable as i know it will... it always does!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am in total and utter agreement!
    Well said.
    L.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmmmm... anyway to climb into that picture?? Lovely.
    Your description of school took me back to those days. The wood floors had been cleaned with that dark pink powdered cleaner (that smelled wonderful), the smell of white paste (some of the kids ate it!) and just a hint of the smell from freshly mimeographed paper. I feel a bloggin' topic coming on...
    Thanks for the memories. Have a wonderful day.
    Karen
    Ladybug Creek

    ReplyDelete
  8. WOW!! This leaves me breathless - and I, too, am so ready for Fall.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have described my summer and feelings about it as if you were hidden inside my head. It is once again hot and humid here and it is raining again. I long for the fall.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh dear! I was so looking forward to Summer this year....now...maybe not!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful Pamela. I love that word: bedraggled. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've heard or read that! :) Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  12. happy September to you too- how interesting I wrote about wanting Autumn today too- but about wanting the last gasp of summer too- but then we have a very short summer here indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yikes! Sounds like you're really down in the dumps!

    I hope you feel better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  14. As ever this post is written beautifully. It's quite hard for us Europeans to understand the heaviness of a summer like yours. We would have welcomed a little more heat this year.
    I love the image of Edward rushing out optimistically each morning, only to be disappointed.
    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  15. I loved the image and your words..definately had me daydreaming.

    And, yes I am completely yearning for the crisp air to greet me instead of this sweltering mess of late!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wouldn't it be lovely to actually find perpetual autumn as we follow the Earth on Her travels? How I wish that were the case, only too I love autumn more than any other season, having counting the days once winter starts.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I do so remember insisting on wearing my new school clothes on the first day of school...and discovering that it is still way to hot for wools and cardigans...

    Happy September Pamela and Edward!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Darling Edward must feel very hot in his fur coat and will be welcoming the cooler days I am sure...You made it through and shall shortly be rewarded with your bearable Fall days. All the best dear Pamela.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I feel much the same Pamela and welcome September with open arms.

    ReplyDelete
  20. So true about the heat and start of school. It has been close to 100 in Maine when it rarely gets to 90 in the summer. I’m taking my daughter for a cooling dip in the ocean after her second day of hot activities in and outside the classroom.

    I love this line of yours: “How well I remember my own long ago days when the air hung overcoat heavy and the soft and constant murmur of the fans drowned out all serious thought.”

    At least we are now ready to say goodbye to summer. I send you a cool breeze.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Pamela, I love the way you discribe your September longings!
    I feel so similar after the long(allthough gorgeous) heat!
    Welcome to a happy September!
    I am glad to be back home after the long journey!
    Much love - Victoria

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dear Pamela,
    Freshly back from the heat of Italy, I feel an autumnal hint in the air and berries appearing on the trees and know that Autumn is on it's way. I guess that once it is here and the winter starts to settle in, I will be wishing for warm spring breezes and lighter evenings. I do know though that each season has it's merits and I truly love them all. I suppose that it's only human to want what we haven't got and as soon as we are well into a season, we can't wait for the next one to arrive. !! XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  23. I knew I could count on you to post a welcome to autumn!

    "My soul needs the crispness, the sweetness, of Autumn."

    Mine, too, friend...mine too...

    ReplyDelete
  24. Started classes last week - today we are back to a heat wave, almost hotter than all summer! And, though I am usually in air conditioning at school, I took my nature drawing class to a botanical garden today to draw. We almost jumped in the fountains it was soooo hot. Some of us did run through the sprinklers. I'm ready for crisp air, and cutting light as well. UGH!

    Hope you get some heat relief soon, and us too!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Bonjour Pamela ~ I loved reading this because it so reminded me of how I feel in the middle of a hot dry summer when all around is dry baked earth But today here, is the beginning of beautiful Spring and everything is green from our wet winter and the almond blossoms are in full flower,the little bluebells are ablaze with prettiest blue ~ Life is beautiful~ I am very Thankful!
    ~Dianne~

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh Pamela, I sing paeans to September too, - most beautiful and welcome of months!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Happy September, ours is hazy bright.
    "..ponderous gloom of the summer", really, Pamela?

    Try and recapture the goodness with a glass of lemonade and a wintry book.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Oh, Pamela, what a beautiful post, and I am with you 100 percent. As I sit here typing in my 93-degree studio, I am longing for fall. In Maine it has been one of the hottest summers on record. When I was a little girl, we had maybe two or three days above 90 in an entire summer, now they are very common here. Here's hoping that September brings us some relief!

    xo Gigi

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh Pamela, how I have missed your magical tapestry of words. This was one of my favorite reads. I am so with you - Happy September, sweet one!
    xo Isa

    ReplyDelete
  30. No kidding. I wait all winter for the summer and then it was excruciating in N.C., at least! Fall used to feel like Sunday to me--homework, staying home. Now I relish it, because our Southern falls are so nice and long. Love your musings!
    All the Best,
    Liz

    ReplyDelete
  31. I wish this for you Pamela...very soon. I can feel it in your heart, you need Autumn!!

    Stay well and cool...

    Jeanne xx

    ReplyDelete
  32. Our Autumn beginnings arrived about a week ago...something changed...the light, the air and the sounds, such a beautiful time of year. Truth be told...our summer never really came this year, only in patches, but the fall is turning out to be welcome and beautiful none the less!

    Wishing you a gloriusly perfect fall season...and soon! xo J~

    ReplyDelete
  33. I find this post so very interesting, because your personal views and sentiments about the seasons differ so much from my own personal feelings… perhaps, the contrast in emotions lays in the climate in it self, as those who live in hot places wishes for snow while those of us, enemies of harsh weather, detest the passing of summer… any way, I just thought it interesting that my post today bears the same connections, but in a totally different kind of way.. ;)

    Nice meeting you

    cielo

    ReplyDelete
  34. I've never read such longing for autumn.
    Even in Scotland I remember those too-hot days in the classroom at the start of the school year.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Happy September dearest Pamela...and as always..wonderful writings:))

    ReplyDelete
  36. And now September has arrived! Your words in this post are so lovely they've lodged into my heart.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!