Fall has just got to be right around the corner if for no other reason than I am ready. Down here in the Deep South, we don't "get" fall like everyone else so we "make" fall. Wishful thinking can do amazing things! As soon as August ends and September rolls in, we immediately "fall" everything! Decorations are put up, spices are hauled out and, oh my, the leaves start to change colors! No, wait. That is not here. We have leaf color only it is green. That green usually hangs around until about January but our wishful thinking doesn't mind. It is fall.
Today, I found another giant orb weaver spider. A huge, palm-sized beauty had strung her web between the groundsel bush and a pier post. This was yet another black and yellow garden spider like the shed door guardian. I love these gigantic spiders simply because, while they appear intimidating, they are rather docile. I also love them because they are harbingers of fall! Yep, Pop always said that finding these spiders and the huge webs meant that fall was right around the corner. Pop was smart with the ways of nature so I am grasping to his bit of wisdom here. My spiders herald fall.
As I was sitting admiring the beauty of the latest spider find, I pondered if Pop was on to something. The best thing I could do was look up about the critters. Sure enough, it seems that the spiders stay hidden until they are ready to mate and lay eggs. The female spins her large web and waits for a suitable husband to wander by. After his visit, she usually eats him for dinner and the proceeds with weaving a lovely cocoon for her eggs. This golden orb will house her babies until the next spring. Fall is the egg-laying time for the orb weaver spiders. Ahh, good to know!
So, Pop was right once again. The "Fall" spiders are coming into view so all is right with the world. Those of us that have been fall ready for the past few months are happy to know that "our" time is nigh! Happy Fall, y'all! Let me go check for fall colors...yep! The Fall Spiders are here with all of their beautiful hues!
Every now and again, a person needs to step back and take a breather from what he is doing. Things can come to a grinding halt if they begin to feel overwhelming. Remodeling is a lot like that. What starts as a minor touch up of paint soon becomes an entirely consuming ordeal. My situation started when the siding was being replaced near the front door. Son asked if I was particularly "attached" to the windows or could he remove them. They were rotted from exposure to hurricanes and the high humidity found on the Bayou. Once the windows were removed, it led to the door being ousted as well. Then, the whole shebang of redoing the inside was set in motion. For the past two weeks, I have spent every waking hour, it seems, on the top of a ten foot tall step ladder. You do what you have to do. This morning, however, I needed a break! I just could go no more. So, I took a hike to gather the thoughts.
As I sat on the pier at daybreak, I had the revelation that I was doing it again. I was "playing it safe" and trying to satisfy everyone else's idea of what is acceptable. I figured that if I am going to be happy, I need to step out of that safe zone and do what makes me happy. That is easier said than done, though, and I needed some reassurance that my decision was the right one. Just at that moment, a heron flew in to sit with me on the pier. I had been photographing the bird as it sat on my brother's pier and never expected the bird to come so near. So...the bird and I sat just a foot apart enjoying the dawn of a new day and a new experience. Neither of us made an effort to move or to acknowledge the other. We just sat.
Was the bird telling me that my decision was correct? Was it trying to tell me I was ok just being me? Hey, if you ask for a sign, you take whatever you get. In my mind, the bird was definitely an omen that things were right with the world. Now...back to work.
It has been a month of wrongs. No matter how I try, it seems that old "If anything can go wrong" Murphy's Law has been in full force here lately. First, the dining room chandelier went bad. Mark took me down to get another but that one wound up in a corner of our living room so the dining room is still "lightless". Then, after a bit of daring me, the washing machine stood up to its threats and stopped doing the spin cycle. Oh, great! Hand wringing clothes is not bad but when it comes to blankets and such, I draw the line! Next on old Murphy's list was my stove. Yep, the burners started going out one by one. Being the frugal sort, I kept insisting that I did not need four burners anyway. Then it was "no one needs three burners" and now with another slowly dying, I will soon be down to one burner. The guys might have a long wait for their supper. Add to that a refrigerator that has now made its debut as a heater and you can see my predicament. It seems as if I need to go appliance shopping. Poor Mark! Then to top it all off, my laptop has a bug. Nope, it does not have a virus but sure sounds like it has a swarm of bees buzzing around inside it. Son, being our computer tech dude, checked it and said that the fan has gone bad. Well, that is just not fun at all! So, as a whole, the month of May was just about filled with catastrophes!
My brain was reeling with all of the weird happenings as I was out weeding the okra. Geez! Something just has to give! Somewhere, somehow, something has to happen that is good. I figure that the month of June has got to be better....or at least I hope. Anyway, as I was down on my knees and up to my elbows in Horse Nettles, I figured I would look for a sign that things were going to improve. Not thinking I would find some neon-flashing marquee sign hanging in the garden, I looked for anything that could be a positive. I found weeds. I found ants. I found stinkbugs. None of those seemed to be a promising sign so I searched a bit harder. Nothing.
A bit later, I pondered the past month again. This time, I was sitting on the yard bench in the cooling breeze. A bit of sewing needed to be done and it was just too hot in the house. As I sat in the breeze whipping that needle back and forth, it hit me. If I have to search for a sign, then it really does not count! To be an absolute omen, it has to find me, not me find it! Ok! Now that we had that settled, I felt more at ease and kept sewing. Once I completed my project, I stood to head back inside. There, right at my feet, was a happy! I found my sign that all was good. A hickory nut had been split in half by my step and the insides formed the perfect heart! Yep, this was a good omen!
In short, I suppose we all look for signs or omens of things to come. Whether we believe in them or whether we shrug them off as just a coincidence, matters not. What does matter is the fact that we cannot completely leave our lives to happenstance. If we want things to be better, then we have to get up, get to work and make things go the way we want. It just takes a bit of hard work...not a broken hickory nut.
