I guess it’s time for me to wax lyrical about autumn
again. I’ve been smelling that autumny smell in the air for a few days now,
listening to the cawk of the magpie and watching the swans as they
whoop-whoop-whoop their way high in the sky over the house. There’s a chill
this September, the year almost in its last quarter, and this morning I walked down
the road through the first street
mist of the season. Yes, it’s coming. There’s a sharp chill in the air and the
plants in my backyard are looking end-of-summer tired, all straggles and fading
flushes.
As I walked in the crispness I noticed a small green acorn
cup on the pavement. Of course I had to stop, pick it up, and slip it in my
pocket. I guess there’s still the dreamer in me and I can’t see an acorn cup
without visualising a fairy wearing one on his head for a hat - Puck maybe.
As a boy we always had a nature table at school in the
autumn. I don’t know if schools still bother with them, but I would go for
walks along Moorhen Lane
and collect whatever I found; berries and conkers, dead leaves, teazles, and
piles of hard, green acorn cups. Of course not many seven year olds would be
allowed to wander for miles on their own today, but I enjoyed my solitary
country walks and learned a lot about landscape and nature.
It seems such a long time ago now, another world in a
simpler time and gilded by nostalgia and a convenient memory. But acorn cups
will always be worn by fairies in my dreams. Oh well, it’s good to dream,
remember and reflect I suppose.
Lindsey Messenger on FB
ReplyDeleteOh I loved the nature table at school ... And totally agree about the acorn cup and fairies
Andrew Height
DeleteDo you remember the pressed flower competition in the Summer Holidays once. We were in Mrs Mathews class and we had to collect as many pressed flowers as we could and put them in a book. I got about 100 I think, but you got more. Then neither of us won it because Caroline Jones (teacher's pet) wrote about the flowers in her book. She had far less flowers but still won despite you having more and me having a Meadow Cranesbill. Happy times.