01 September 2015

September is Coming

Early Autumn in Auvergne // Personal picture

It all starts with subtle hints and silent clues. A few brown chestnut tree leaves on the sidewalk. The first plums on the market stalls. Some stationary ad billboards creeping into the metro stations. A few more people in the subway tunnels and cars driving around the city. And, then, one morning...

One morning, the familar faces and voices are back on radio and TV. The local restaurants and bars have reopened. Colleagues reappear, tanned and fresh. All the talk is of the children going back to school. A text message informs me my violin teacher is back in town. There is a long line in front of the local activity center. Libraries are open. The boss is back. Leaves are littering the Nation square and hundreds of new books are released.

C'est la rentrée!

Even though the first weeks of September are, technically, still summer, I think these are one of the reasons why I love Autumn so much. I loved learning then and I love learning now. I hated the heat, nothingness, and absence of routine of summer holidays. I still hate the heat. The only place at school I felt comfortable in was the library. And here it was, opened again as I came back to school. The scent of new notebooks, the new calendar and planner. New subjects to learn about. I was that weird kid who liked school better than summer beach parties, and learning was my comfort zone.

C'est la rentrée!

I loved picking nuts in the neighbour's tree, walking under the golden sun of an Autumn afternoon, on the hills over my home town. The musty scent of the music school classroom. The hot chocolate my mother brought when she picked me up after the violin lesson, in the dark of early Autumn nights. The foggy evenings along the Rhône river as I came home from my evening job during my university years. The fresh notebooks I brought to the very first day of a new class. Maybe that's also why I fell for the Harry Potter series, he too detested summer and saw his return to school as a blessed period of the year.

I am a creature of falling leaves, fresh mushrooms, fiery colors of nature, hot chocolates and libraries. I am a creature of Autumn. September is upon us and that lifts my spirits in a unique way.

10 comments:

  1. Florie, I agree with you completely! No matter what I do, I still pretty much hate the heat and leap with joy at the prospect of jumpers and scarves. This year, I was working on this "hot weather blues" because I don't want to be wishing the days away and summer has so much to offer after all! But autumn is my favourite season and I'm super excited for it :)

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    1. Haha same here! I've done my best to show gratitude for all the little things of summer, but I can't help preferring Autumn :) It's about time for us now!

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  2. I love late summer... And early autumn. The weather gets milder, the light softer, no more pollen in the air (.). This time of year has always been one of melancholy for me - in the past because no more vacation, swimming in the pool, endless time for reading... Now because of the shortening days and the disappearing of the relaxed vibe that summer brings even if you have to work. When the days grow shorter I know from experience that my energy levels will go down too. But nowadays there's greater appreciation for what the changing seasons mixed in with the melancholia. Changing seasons promote contemplation of impermanence and the nature of beauty...

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    1. It is true that Autumn is more associated with melancholia usually—the weather gets colder, flowers wither and leaves die, days shorten... There have been incredibly beautiful poems about that. It is also normal that energy levels go down, nature goes to rest and so should we! I do enjoy this quieter vibe though, long evenings wrapped in a blanket, drinking hot tea and watching series, taking baths, staying in with le fiancé... Less energy isn't necessarily a bad thing! I agree with you on the contemplation of the fleeting nature of life, both Spring and Autumn are great seasons to admire the changing beauty of nature. I think I appreaciate the shades of yellow, red and brown of Autumn forests even better than all the spring flowers :)

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  3. I am hoping for rain and a cooler fall period. Already the sun is setting a few minutes earlier each day.

    Is that too much #omgfallomg? :)

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    1. There is never too much of this :) I like how the sunlight is already starting to be lower int he horizon, smoother and more golden in September. The cooling has already taken place here in Paris, I wonder about Autumn in California!

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  4. All true. I wish autumn was 6 months long. :)

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  5. What a beautiful post! I love September too. Cracking open the new stationary especially. This is the first September that I am not a student anymore and I am curious to observe how it´s going to feel like but I can see that a quest for learning is not relegated to school desk only, it can permeate your personal life, if you decide to read books and educate yourself every day. I used to love autumn a lot more but nowadays not so much...probably because my last couple of autumns haven´t been all that great. I am determined to make this one count! As always, it´s in the little things, the leaves, the colours and what not. :)

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    1. Ah, the first Autumn after the end of the student years is a particularly nostalgic one. Nothing prevents you to keep buying new stationary :) Seasons are sometimes tainted by bad memories that happened to take place at that period of the year, I hope you'll be able to reclaim the little joys of Autumn this year :)

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