Perfect Weekend

On crisp autumn days when I was a little girl, my mother often sang a song with the following lines:

Oh sun and skies and clouds of June
And flowers of June together
You cannot rival for one short hour
October’s bright blue weather

I found myself singing it last weekend, which seemed to stretch endlessly and beautifully, bright and blue and warm and gentle, the perfect goodbye for fall.

We worked hard and played hard – finished cleaning the garage, got the flower beds tucked in for winter, made at least a dent in the never-ending oak leaves, and finished our afternoon with a long walk along our favorite riverside trail, where the low water level and slower flow caused by a stretch of dry weather meant the usually brown and muddy river perfectly reflected the bright October sky.

I know winter’s coming (and I’ve got nothing against June and its flowers, either), but I love nothing better than a bright October weekend and I’m grateful for the gift.