Quote of the Day (Ellen Glasgow, on ‘The Change From Baseball to Football’)

“I mean, he notices. He can see the color in the sky, and he knows that the change from baseball to football isn’t the only way to tell when it is autumn. Some men don’t know any more than that about seasons.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and feminist Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945), In This Our Life (1941)

As I write this, fans of the Tampa Bay Rays may be finally about to realize that sports transition, following a third straight loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that leaves them just one game short of elimination from the World Series. Very soon, they’ll have to start watching Tampa Bay Buccaneer contests. (With that squad at 2-5, let’s see how long they can stand watching those.)

Otherwise, the change in the seasons is not as apparent in Florida as it is up here in the Northeast. In fact, a late dear friend told me once that what she missed in her move to the Sunshine State was the turning of the leaves this time of year.

Quote of the Day (John Updike, on How ‘Every Day and Season Has Its Beauty and Its Uses’)

“Also like my late Unitarian father-in-law am I now in my amazed, insistent appreciation of the physical world, of this planet with its scenery and weather—that pathetic discovery which the old make that every day and season has its beauty and its uses, that even a walk to the mailbox is a precious experience, that all species of tree and weed have their signature and style and the day is a pageant of clouds.” — American man of letters John Updike (1932-2009), Self-Consciousness: Memoirs (1989)

I took this photo eight years ago yesterday, looking across the Hudson from Fort Tryon Park in New York.

Quote of the Day (Hal Borland, on ‘Each New Season’)

“Each new season grows from the leftovers from the past. That is the essence of change, and change is the basic law.”— American journalist and naturalist Hal Borland (1900-1978), Sundial of the Seasons (1964)

Welcome, Summer!

Quote of the Day (Lewis Carroll, on the Changing Seasons)

“In winter, when the fields are white,

I sing this song for your delight -

“In spring, when woods are getting green,

I'll try and tell you what I mean.

“In summer, when the days are long,

Perhaps you'll understand the song:

“In autumn, when the leaves are brown,

Take pen and ink, and write it down.”— Children’s book author and mathematician Charles L. Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), “Humpty Dumpty's Recitation,” in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)

Quote of the Day (Henry David Thoreau, on ‘The Revolution of the Seasons’)

“The revolution of the seasons is a great and steady flow, a graceful, peaceful motion, like the swell on lakes and seas. Nowhere does any rigidity grow upon nature, no muscles harden, no bones protrude, but she is supple-pointed now and always….No man was ever yet too nice to walk in her woods and fields.”—Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), October 6, 1840 entry in Autumn: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau (1900)

Quote of the Day (Henry David Thoreau, on How to ‘Live in Each Season’)

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” —Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)