I
love autumn and almost everything about it – I revel in its boldness and its
unabashed glory of brilliant oranges and reds.
There
was a time when I did not.
That
would have been those years I was in school as well as the 14 long years I was
teaching.
Whenever
the locusts began to sing in late summer, I knew before long, I’d be walking
through halls that smelled of chalk dust and textbooks, musty from a summer in
storage. Student or teacher, it
was the same. I dreaded it with a heart-pounding, gut-wrenching passion.
But
that first year I had my freedom, a whole new world of beauty opened up to me.
Ahhhh,
sweet autumn.
I
love the smell of autumn. The crisp feel of air, rich with the aroma of
decaying leaves creating mulch to
warm young spring shoots that would come up through late winter snows.
And,
I was no longer confined to vacations in the summer when crowds and hotel rates
were up.
Now
just give me a post-Labor Day’s September week on Chincoteague Island, Va. with
long walks through the pines forests, while the air and water are still warm
enough for that perfect dive through the breakers, with nary a boogie boarder
to cramp my style.
Or
an October’s week in old Cape May, N.J. for walks along the beach or along
streets of Victorian graciousness, all designed to whet your appetite for a
bowl of homemade oyster stew.
I
love the foods of autumn. (You knew that was coming didn’t you?)
Apple
Cider - the kind you get in the local farmer’s markets with its rich
deliciousness accompanied by the hard crunch of the spice cookie in its
traditional orange and black box.
And
warm homemade pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread with cream cheese or pumpkin soup
served with a dollop of sour cream floating on top.
Without
the pumpkin our early colonists would have been lost, as it was treated as a
squash, a staple of the 18th century diet. Pumpkin rinds were cut into strips
to dry, to be reconstituted in stews in the bleak cold days of winter.
I’m
trying not to mention candy corn as if I think about it too long, I’ll have to
leave mid-sentence and drive to the Wawa to eat handfuls from the bag until I
drop over from a sugar rush. I have no will power when it comes to candy corn
so it’s better left out of sight and out of mind.
As
I said I love almost everything about autumn…except Halloween.
In
my neighborhood, we hang a photo-copied pumpkin face on our front door to
indicate children can knock for treats. But several years ago I noticed how
serene the evening became when I kept the sign in and turned off my lights.
Yes,
little girls dressed up as Belle or Cinderella and little boys dressed up as
Spider Man, with Dads or Moms a few steps behind urging them on, are what it’s
all about–but not the middle school kids who appear in street clothes with
their big pillowcases begging for candy.What happened to teaching kids values
like collecting for UNICEF?
But
now it’s time to shut down the Dell and drive up to the Wawa for some candy
corn – Happy Autumn!
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
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