The light is changing, bringing a lovely golden hue to dappled afternoons....bathing brisk breezes with a sense of festive expectation and a quickening of pace...anticipating the Holidays to come....
But first.........it's a welcome change to smell the earthy comfort of Autumn leaves...an amber and umber sort of smell that gives a finality to Summer and a welcoming ambiance to all that is Fall.
The glow of diffused sunlight ....the crispness of the air..... gives a me a glorious sense of spaciousness........I want to run around in parks and forests.......and breathe in all that wide open space......letting it fill me with a sense of hope....happiness....homecoming......hearth....
The other smell that really brings it home for me is...smokehouse....
blue grey tendrils leaking across the sky to color the call of southbound geese.......filling the air with assurances of comfort....the promise of laden table....the delicious art of low and slow.....
I didn't grow up with BBQ...real BBQ...but I did grow up with weekend grill fests.
We owned and ran a resort campground. On weekends, after pancake breakfasts, we fired up half barrel grills for all-you-can-eat BBQ chicken suppers. Happy campers, beans, potato salad, slaw and grandchild smiles.
Sunday mornings were the best, as I wandered the pines and drank in the pale honey sunshine- the cold air, bright with the rustic scents of pines, and delectable coffee, pancakes, butter and bacon and that magical cold-day-after charred BBQ smell.
To this day there's something fabulous to me about that, morning forest and campground cooking smells .... I just adore it. It makes my heart beat faster. It will always mean comfort and ease to me.
My first Fall in Nashville, hickory smoke drifted from fireplaces as soon as a real chill hit the air and filled the neighborhoods with that amazing scent that, for me...from some ancient memory recall.....means home.
October 2009