Daily Doohickey #3

It'll be a short one today, and by today, I mean tonight. I'd intended to write this morning, while my coffee pot decided if it wanted to make me coffee today. Guess what? It didn't. First, it helps to put coffee in the coffee filter. I awoke to a pot of freshly brewed tap water. Then I realized why I didn't have any coffee in the filter-- I didn't have any coffee at all! Some awful oversight on my part, as I just got groceries this weekend. I meant to pick some coffee up today but my day got so busy with work and school commitments, now tomorrow morning must suffer from the same lack of a caffeine jolt as this one did.

That said, on to the Daily Doohickey!


This Doohickey speaks of Autumn, the season. On a side note, I think Autumn is a beautiful name for a girl, but I'm not sure I'd ever name one of my girls Autumn. One of those things that looks nice on other peoples kids who you don't have to see everyday or yell at, but if I had to yell "Autumn!" everytime she did something, it'd probably get old pretty quick. Plus, being the snarky person I am, if she were ever late to something, I'd call her Winter.

According to the Daily Writer, the season of Autumn is associated with learning [maybe due to the start of traditional school years?] and with renewal. I don't see the renewal component as much, but I have my own reasons for enjoying Autumn. Also, I'm going to call if Fall from here on out because, like if I'd named a girl Autumn, I'm already tired of typing it. So, the Daily Writer concludes that Fall is the ideal season for contemplation and study. I'm sure doing alot of studying for my classes, and what spare time I have is spent contemplating matters for work, but anywho... I am exhausted and can not afford to drag this blog entry out.

Exercise 1: Maintain a List of Autumnal Images and Associations

I probably won't come back and update this list, but I'll give it as good of a shot as I can right now with a 5 minute effort.

• Crunchy Leaves
• Open windows 24/7 (I live currently in the southeast USA. When I lived in the northeast I wouldn't keep them open at night during fall).
• Heavier dew on my car windshield in the morning (reminds me I need to clean my wipers, something is all gunky on them... I think the stray cats that leave paw prints all over my car every morning might've peed on it or something. .... ... I'm serious.)
• Pumpkins.
• Christmas approaching
• Family (As a kid I only ever saw extended family on Christmas, and a few other family members only Thanksgiving... so I associate this time of the year with seeing family)
• Bedroom slippers (I inevitably want a pair around this time of year, and can't find my pair from last year, or wore all of the padding out of them, or stomped the heel of it down with my foot so they never stay on my foot right, or I worry they'll make too much noise and my downstairs neighbor will get annoyed with me trouncing around at 6 AM)
• Walking (I'm not lazy, but I don't often go for unprompted walks, except during fall)
• Camping (I haven't been in a long time but it seems everytime I've been camping, it's just been leaves all over the place making a mess of noise when the wind blows at night, scraping them up against the tent.
• Football. I can't believe it's this far down on the list, football consumes my weekends.
• Parties. It seems some parties revolve around football games, especially back in college, but even today football brings people together,

Well that's a 5 minute list of the things that come to mind first. I don't think a single person has viewed this blog yet, and thats fine, but if you do check this post out, feel free to leave a comment with some of your 'fall thoughts'. Or even your 'Autumn thoughts', if you prefer.

Exercise 2: Compose a Series of Autumnal Poems

Okay, my brain is running on 0 right now, and combine that with my general avoidance of poetry, and nothing good can possibly come of this exercise. I tend to have an insatiable itch to make my poetry rhyme in some way, shape, or form; and somethings rhyme trounces reason, and I end up with jibberish a 4th grader could have composed. I'll cheat here and look for an Autumnal poem that fits my mood.

I like this one. I'm a simple person, and theres something really nice about walking hand in hand wearing sweaters (or hoodies, whatever the kids are calling them these days) enjoying an autumn breeze. It is titled "My Autumn Girl" by Framarz Bagheri, from poemhunter.com

Your

Autumn lips

Autumn hair

Autumn eyes

Autumn smile

Autumn cheeks

I kiss God in autumn!

I'll add another here, so you are not left thinking I am some 14 year old boy all giddy about holding hands with a girl. This next one is by Mula Veereswara Rao, and is titled "Autumn Came"

By ripping cheeks,
with cold breeze,
with twitter of sparrows,
Autumn came!

Autumn came to cover
shivering earth
with colorful leaves carpet!

Autumn floats like
sun's epitaph

Autumn echoed like
farewell song of birds
in the evening!

Autumn touches the
breath of last leaves
on the verge of falling
with warmth!

Autumn challenges the
confidence of the tree
who hides buds in the heart

I like a few lines in that one, particularly how Autumn came by ripping cheeks with cold breezes. You know how everynow and then a gust of wind comes along during the fall and leaves you running for your hat, or pulling shut the jacket you were boasting unzipped? And I like the last line, Autumn challenging the confidence of the tree who hides buds in the heart. That could mean a lot of things, but Autumn is definitely a challenging season. Not many hundred years ago Autumn was all about preparing for the challenge of winter. That 'challenge' is more an inconvenience for us nowadays with our technical marvels, but we could do with a reminder of how hard it was before some great thinkers made things so much easier for us.




Now go out and enjoy Autumn with your loved ones! Especially if your significant other is named Autumn, it's her namesake afterall! And isn't that picture so gosh darn amazing? Go out and see if the buds in your heart will stand up to the cold breeze of Autumn and enter the challenging Winter season strong!