And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.
Oscar Wilde
September 1 marks the beginning of autumn in Ireland. It’s a time when the weather can be beautiful. Cooler but not too cool. Or blustery towards the evening. All good as far as I’m concerned whether it’s a walk along Barney Road in French Hill or a hike along the Wild Atlantic Way.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness….
John Keats – “Ode to Autumn”
It is autumn again. And as I look at a version of this post from a year ago, I am thinking about the passage of time and seasons. We’ve all been hit by the pandemic – some of us in very tragic ways. One year ago, I posted a blog message about the autumn season in Ireland. I was feeling melancholy about the fact that a year had passed since I’d been in Ireland.
Here I am again, another year has zipped by without a trip across the pond. Mostly because of the pandemic and caution about putting Bill at risk. Here’s a picture of Bill from September 2019 at Café Rua on Spencer street for coffee (that’s for me) and a sweet for my sweet, Bill.
The 2019 trip was a wonderful 10 days, seeing my cousins and friends. And, the lovely book signing, for the first book in my series, at the Castle Book Shop in Castlebar, County Mayo.
Book Signing at the Castle Book Shop, Castlebar, County Mayo
So much has happened in the last year. We moved my mom, who has dementia, here to Florida so that she can be near me. Bill’s ability to see and comprehend diminishes each day. But I’m still grateful, we’ve managed to avoid coming down with the virus. We still have each other. This is a picture of the three of us having lunch a few weeks ago.
Time is passing as Keats meant when he wrote his Ode to Autumn. Autumn is beautiful but it also marks the passage of time. We are spinning through the seasons and hopefully soon we will have spun through the pandemic. Some days, it seems like more than two years have gone by. I have to remind myself what time of year it is, especially here in Florida where it is easy to think you are living in perpetual summer. Just today I put out my fall decorations and table cloth to mark that it is October, that time is passing, and we will move forward.
How are you marking the passage of time? What are you doing for the fall season? How are you marking this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness? Let me know. I love to hear from readers.
And, until the next time. Keep the love going. – Martha
Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about the Star O’Brien County Mayo mysteries. Here’s the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney