Image by Johannes Plenio
Thought for the Week
We’re slipping into fallmost, almost fall, the not-quite season. Or perhaps you think of it as notumn, not autumn. But whatever you call it, this not-quite season has a wistful, fleeting ambiguity to it. When it isn’t lurching between extremes, it’s settling for warm rather than hot, cool rather than crisp. And when early quitter leaves flutter to the ground, it doesn’t know what to do with them, so it just leaves them there. Because fallmost, like sprinter (no longer winter, not quite spring) has just one defining trait: transition.
Fallmost isn’t the house we’re moving to, nor is it the house we used to live in, it’s the borrowed truck with questionable shocks that will jostle us uncertainly from one place to the other. It’s the not-quite-big-enough rental van that will force us to choose what to take and what to leave behind, and who to ask for help with the promise of pizza, even though we may be leaving them behind as well.
Fallmost isn’t sure what to feel. It longs for change, and knows it can’t remain the same. And yet it worries that the change will be different than advertised, disappointing or overhwhelming. So it tries to live in the the imperfectly familiar, the not-quite. Just like us. But we can’t stay there, because…
It’s not where we were meant to live.
Yes, yes, yes. Bittersweet, isn’t it, but so remindful. (My morning slog is a joy without humidity and with a nip in the air, plus those crispy little early quitter leaves.)
Sunrise comes too late…yet the sun hangs on too long when day should be done.
Rich, Mitch! Truth be told, I love fallmost… The heat of summer is almost over (so not a ‘heat’ lover), and my 3 favorite seasons are still to come! Yay! 🍁❄️🌻 I’d never heard it called fallmost before, but I think it’s my new favorite word…at least for today! Knowing you, you just might hit us with a new one tomorrow! Always a joy! 😅
;>) Thanks, Dori. Season on!
Fallmost, springter: I love these times when the bitter, damp cold of our winters can be either far ahead or nearly gone, and the oppressive heat and humidity of our recent summers is fading into memory. Thanks for the words, Mitch, and good luck with the move🙏❤️.
Surely there is a poem in “The Not-Quite Season.” This was a pleasure to read about. Thanks, Mitch. 🙂
My pleasure, Nancy.
I posted this on Linked In. There’s an important message here.
Thnx, Mitch. “Fallmost” and “spingster” are a bit like our wrack lines here in Maine. Great places to hang out…
I had to look up “wrack lines,” Richard. Hadn’t heard of them till now.
I love the names notomn and fallmost!
Thanks!
Agreed, it’s not were we were meant to live. We will live with our King Jesus forever, Amen! Have a great rest of the week Mitch.
You too, Cora
Thank you!
Ha-I just posted about this! We are falling out of summer. I call it the Goldilocks season—not too hot, not too cold—just right.
Mitch, are you familiar with Brenda’s site “Life Tapestry Creations”? Because her post this week could be set up beside yours for an “As above, so below” mirror…
I’ll check it out, Ana!
👌
Love this!
Why, thank you, Andi!
I reposted! I hope that is okay with you. 🙂
Of course, Andi.
So funny, so wise.
Very Nice 😍
Merci, Julie.
I love your ability to voice your thinking in such an interesting way.
Thank you, Howard.
What a wonderful description of this transitional time. It has been absolutely splendid here in northern Colorado with cool evenings and mornings and warm-not-too-warm days. My wife and I are trying to figure out how to bottle up some of these days and pull them out in mid-January when we are huddling in front of the fireplace.
If you do, I’ll order a dozen!
I guess – as the kids are wont to say – it’s all good! — YUR
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Great photo
I agree! It’s by Johannes Plenio. Click on the link below the image to see more of his work.
Love the photo, and even moreso because you associated it with my favorite season–well, fallmost!
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