Fall
Autumn on Bywater Farm in Beavercreek, Oregon
Others may talk of spring, “When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim/Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,”[1] or the wealth of being “rich . . . in sunny hours and summer days,”[2] but autumn is by far my favorite season.
According to the Monell Center, “that brisk, crisp, slightly sharp smell we associate with autumn is actually the smell of leaves, trees, and plants dying and rotting.”[3] The article goes on to explain, “The memories we associate with the change of seasons are what make it pleasurable, even when many of us are allergic to moldy leaves and burning wood.”
I won’t let that sadly unpoetic description (yes, I meant “unpoetic” — “prosaic” doesn’t satisfactorily describe my disgust at bringing allergies and mold and death into it) dampen my ardor for fall.
O Autumn, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
. . . The wild burst of color in the leaves, even in the Pacific Northwest, that declares to the world I LIVE even as death creeps inevitably near . . .
. . . The return to school, with its promise of new ideas and knowledge—so far, I’ve attended school for twenty-one of my years on this earth, and taught in various positions for still more years, and the thrill of a new school year has never dimmed . . .
And, to bring my own banal and pedestrian element into it:
. . . Sweaters to hide the wrinkles and other indignities that come with age.
Yes, we in the US have a highly contentious election coming up, and yes, a new variant of Covid appears to be surging, with flu season tittering in the wings, and yes, climate change and wars and famine remain existential threats to us all.
Still I will celebrate the heady aromas and new adventures heralded by September.
Care to join me?
Two Over Easy All Day Long News
Meet the Author event at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland, Oregon
10/7/2024 7:00 pmMeet the Author event at Bookery Manchester in Manchester, New Hampshire
11/16/2024, 2:00 pm. Invitation and RSVPA new YouTube video taking a shot at describing the genre of Two Over Easy All Day Long. (On the new video: Getting Better All the Time, as the song goes, but it’s still A Long and Winding Road - I hope the Beatles who are still alive forgive me for using their lyrics to excuse my lack of skill in videography)
Book Reviews
Attica Locke’s Bluebird, Bluebird (Mulholland Books 2018)
This book has everything I ask for from a book: a page-turner mystery with danger and red-herrings galore, complex and beautifully written characters, tangled family histories and traumas, and musings on being human (among other themes the book explores race relations in Texas, and the difficulty of sustaining an intimate relationship when two people feel love but want very different lives).
Locke just came out with the third book in this series, Guide Me Home. I stumbled upon an interview with Jami Attenberg about the latest book, and decided to start at the beginning of the series.
Highly recommended!
M. Stone Mayer’s Ashes to Ashes (Three Towers Press 2024)
Mayer is a fellow alum from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, and it is a pleasure to promote his debut novel!
A fast-paced thriller, Ashes to Ashes follows Will Mercer, a former Army ranger, who wakes on a sandbar in the Oregon wilderness, unable to remember who he is. More importantly, he can’t remember who his enemies are and why they chased him into the river. It’s a race against time as his pursuers close in. One reviewer said, “Loads of suspense from the beginning...great characters and storyline. Vivid descriptions put you right there in the action...A+!”
The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel, and I’m sure Mayer’s readers will be looking forward to the next installment.
I’m always looking for the next great read,
so send me an email (or comment below),
and let me know what you’re reading!
Art Corner
When it comes to the visual arts, I have absolutely no talent. During my years as a preschool teacher I attempted, once (and only once) to make my own felt stories. I had to give it up when, after sharing my homemade version of the Rudolph story, one of the children said, “Teacher, what is that?” “A reindeer,” I said, trying to hide my consternation. “Oh,” the precious tot said, “It doesn’t look very much like a reindeer. Are you sure that’s what it is?”
But my lack of talent does not foreclose appreciation for the work of those who do have talent.
In newsletters, on the website, and on the Laughing Dogs website, I’ve waxed ecstatic about the multiple geniuses of my friend Gini Chin: artist, writer, and video-creator. I’ve said it before and will say it again - do yourself a favor and check out her website: https://spot312.com/.
Now I want to highlight another brilliant artist that I have the good fortune to know: Martha Spieker. In Martha’s hands the ordinary becomes magical. I am especially enamored of her Faces series. And the Owls and Other Birds. And Octopuses. And Abstracts. Oh, who am I kidding? I love it all! Please check out her website: https://spiekerart.com/. And if you need more encouragement, take a look at these…
Reaching
Feeding Time
Isaiah
Follow Martha Spieker on Facebook and on Instagram @spiekerart.
Both Gini and Martha have an amazing reputation in the art world
- they don’t need my bumbling praise -
but anything that gets art into more hands and hearts is a good thing.
Ending this Newsletter with George Eliot’s words:
“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love
- that makes life and nature harmonise.
The birds are consulting about their migrations,
the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay,
and begin to strew the ground,
that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air,
while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the Earth
seeking the successive autumns."
~ George Eliot
September sunset over the Salish Sea
Postscript: Yeah, yeah, I know – footnotes? It comes from being a lawyer (and a perennial student, see previous statements). And anyway, attribution matters. I certainly hope if anyone ever decides to quote me they’ll provide full attribution.
[1] Sonnet 98 by William Shakespeare. It should be noted for the purists in the audience that Sonnet 98 is not, in fact, a paean to spring, but rather a description of how the narrator is unable to enjoy the season because his beloved is absent.
[2] Thoreau, Henry David. Walden (1854)
[3] Fallik, Dawn. “Why Do We Love the Way Autumn Smells?” Monell (11/21/2021), available at https://monell.org/whyy-why-do-we-love-the-way-autumn-smells/ (accessed 9/21/2024).
