Once again, as warm days give way to cool nights, we’ve reached that wonderful precipice: The waning days of the American wildflower. It’s a study in contrast. Against a backdrop of decaying weeds and drying leaves — not to mention the still-burning northwest and a particularly turbulent political season — the yellow swaths of goldenrod and violet patches of New England asters appear to be particularly vibrant this year.
As September turns to October, the grasslands near my apartment are still garnished with color — and not just there. Mother Nature has traversed the red carpet, tossing her confetti not only in fields but also alongside country roads and in the sharp cracks of abandoned parking lots.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
When the trees become ablaze with brilliant reds, sunset oranges and sunflower yellows; when wardrobes are exchanged from shorts to plaid; when cornstalks, pumpkins and gourds adorn the doorsteps of rambling farmhouses from Old Deerfield to Ashfield and beyond.
As the season of autumn proves every year, decomposition can be beautiful.
I walked through this idyllic in-between space one evening last week and didn’t just stop to smell the wildflowers — I lingered for some time, inhaling the rustic aroma of fall, appreciating how beautifully the Pioneer Valley’s landscape transitions from one season to the next. With all the challenges 2020 has brought with it, autumn has signaled a welcome change — and not just in a seasonal sense.
Ahead of my recent grassland trek, for example, for the first time in a while, I took my camera down from its shelf, dialed in its settings and intentionally explored the natural world through the viewfinder. Most of the time, my camera — a Canon full-frame with a favorite manual focus 35 millimeter Pentax SMC lens attached — is permanently swinging from my hip.
This year, however, I’ve been distracted by other endeavors, primarily music, not to mention everything else that’s going on in the world. Additionally, 2020 has been an uncommonly stressful year and I haven’t really felt all that creative.
But I sense a change in the air: with the cooler nights, I’m starting to feel that creative spark once again.
So, here’s to a wonderful fall season and the final days of wildflowers — I hope these coming weeks bring with them a full table of autumnal festivities and a kind of happiness that can only mean one thing: Halloween is just around the corner.
Andy Castillo is the features editor at the Greenfield Recorder. He can be reached at acastillo@recorder.com.