Smell of autumn

"Stickfire"

Kate Greenaway

1905

 

Smoke from bonfires

Hickory and ham mingling in the smokehouse (no peeking)

Fermented grapes on the ground

Manure in the fields

Sour sweet silage 

Warm smell of cows in the barn

Cider

Boiling fruit preserves

Endless apple pies baking

Dad will understand this. There's nothing on the west coast that compares to the rich odor of a rural, Pennsylvania autumn.  

 

They say smell is the sense most associated with memory. Both are processed in the brain's limbic system, the center of emotion. The reason why a single whiff can be so evocative of the distant past. 

 

Winter is coming, ending the precious times we've had socializing outside this summer. In the next 3 weeks, we'll lose another hour and a half of daylight. 

 

This is a La Nina winter, which typically means wetter and colder than usual in the Northwest. Who knows? We'll have the first freezing overnight temperatures in Seattle on Thursday.  No long walk today-- leaf raking exercise instead.