Octob--September's Bright Blue Weather

As a child, I have a distinct recollection of a poem my sister memorized in school.

(We often learned classic poetry, perhaps because the world was still so new that there wasn't enough history 
to fill the hours of the school day.)

One line of this poem comes to me annually when I gaze up at the sharp shade of blue in the sky above and recognize AUTUMN.

I love autumn.

It is my favorite season.

I lived many years in upstate New York where the Adirondack Mts

were filled with hardwood trees like maple, oak, elm, hickory.

Each one had leaves that turned distinct shades of red, purple, orange, gold, brown...

The sun's lower angle brought its golden rays 

into the house in a warming glow.

My autumns have been in a different climate of late.

No hardwood trees here, but rather Aspen and Birch

that turn only yellow, gold and orange.

But these shades of the changing leaves contrast

with that blue sky--its vividness striking.

The sky is crisp, sharp, clear.

The haziness of a humid, summer sky has vanished.

The blue is almost hard to stare at, 

as if it could shatter into countless pieces at any moment. 

The farther up I look, the darker the blue becomes. 

The poem is entitled "October's Bright Blue Weather",

penned by Helen Hunt Jackson who lived 1830-1885.

Being so near the Arctic Circle, 

this remarkable sky is seen earlier, in September.

                                        " O suns and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October’s bright blue weather."

The sky that inspired Helen almost 200 years ago still thrills me today!