NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Ah, September has arrived! Although the hot days aren’t over, many are still warm with leftover summer, this month is always a turning point. Nights at least are a bit cooler and it’s been a pleasure to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. There’s at least a hint of fall in the air and we hold on to the promise of crisp, clear days ahead.
Leaves from many of our big trees have been tumbling to the ground as the trees are stressed by lack of moisture. I’ve observed very few nuts and most of the immature pecans are already falling so I’m afraid the harvest this year will be very slim. The enterprising squirrels are making thebest of what has dropped as I’ve found the remains of the nuts they’ve munched on the sidewalk.
Sister Nancy visited a couple of weeks ago and brought me some tall cornstalks from her garden. We tied a shock together and lashed them to a leafy maple near the driveway. Then I went to the shop and brought out my wooden pumpkin cutouts to add to the seasonal display. Inside, a bouquet of flowers in fall colors, sunflowers, blackeyed Susans and stalks of wheat in a milk glass vase, adorns the coffee table. Candles in spiced cider and pumpkin spice fragrances scent the air.
After a nice slow rain thelast Sunday in August and another the last day of the month we’ve had some foggy mornings. I’ve continued watering the tomatoes and we’re still getting a few. Even a ripe red strawberry appears now and then but some critter gets most of them before I go to pick them. The fuzzy rose blooms of the coxcombs in the front flowerbed are slowly growing taller and I’ve harvested enough chard to cook a couple of times. With a little cooler weather heartier meals begin to appeal and we enjoyed goulash and lentils with smoked sausage in recent days.
School has begun and the big yellow bus again comes rumbling by the house each morning. Most youngsters are thrilled to get back into the classroom and visit with the friends they haven’t seen all summer. They enjoy donning their new school clothes and using their new school supplies. It’s always exciting to sharpen those new pencils and write the first lines in anew composition book.
I visited with the grandkids after their first week of school and they all reported a good beginning to the school year. Both Matthew and Alyssa really like their teachers and are off to a positive start. Even A.J., who’s a junior this year, reported a good week but he was already complaining about the amount of homework.
In “School Days,” one of my favorite Gladys Taber columns, she reminisced about the days when her grandmother walked to a one-room school house carrying her books, a pencil box and her lunch. The room was warmed by a potbellied wood stove. School began early, lasted all day and the firm opinion was that it was not meant to be fun. “School was for learning. Discipline was always maintained,” she said. Occasionally an unruly boy would lean over, grab the pigtail of the girl in the seat ahead and dip it in his inkwell, “buthe did it only once!”
Labor Day is traditionally the last big vacation of the summer and many folks were traveling last weekend despite the untimely jump in gas prices. Our son, daughter-in-law and the grandkids planned a trip to a theme park and water park in Indiana over the three-day weekend and I’m sure they enjoyed it even with the threat of squalls from tropical storm Isaac.
The scrimmages and exhibition games are over and now we’re into the regular football season. It’s somewhat of a rebuilding year for Gravette with the loss of several seniors last year but Coach Harrelson seems optimistic about the season and confident in the Lions’ abilities and no doubt they will try their best to meet or exceed his expectations.
Get out and support your local team!
Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong Benton County resident.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 09/05/2012