We’re in a heat wave right when the Abel house wants to start feeling spooky, so I’m thinking about seasons again. Here in southern Indiana, we have a relatively balanced year. Our summers are hotter than our winters are cold but such is the world at this point. I divide up the year in the following way, based on natural patterns rather than holidays or equinoxes/solstices.
Spring
March through May
March is when the spring ephemerals start popping up in the woods. It’s tempting to mark spring by the sap flow, which begins in February but February is clearly–and harshly–a winter month. March is transitional, marked by winds and continuing winter weather but also by days when you can tell the year has turned. By May, the threat of frost has passed and the garden can be fully planted.
Summer
June through August
June is, for me, the most beautiful month of the year around here. It’s fully warm, not hot, and the days are long and hopeful. (October–the other candidate for most beautiful month–loses because of its deep melancholy.) Once July hits, though, the heat is on. July and August, generally, are suffered rather than enjoyed. The heat index is consistently above 100 deg F. Hot as it is, though, it still beats the depths of winter because of tiger lillies, honeysuckle, brown-eyed susans, and sunflowers.
Fall
September through November
Here we call it fall, never autumn. By September, it’s still quite hot but signs of change have begun. In our garden, the showy sunflowers have finally bloomed, a beautiful sign that the growing season is drawing to a close. Then comes October, the peak of fall. Spider webs, wind blowing through the coloring leaves, the quality of the light, the scent of decay. It’s a wonderful, sad month. This continues somewhat into November before the leaves begin to fall. By Thanksgiving, the garden is prepared for winter, the leaves have fallen, and we’re resigned to the coming cold and dark.
Winter
December through February
The winter dark is fully set in December, though the weather isn’t as bad as it will be. In January and February, the wind burns your face and freezes the snot in your nose. The sunsets, though, they can be special. And the silence after a heavy snowfall is reverential. The shortest month of the year is the longest emotionally, as cabin fever sets in.