Kicking It through the end of the year

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal

Special to The Village News

It’s fair to say fall has arrived. It’s visible from my office window. Signs are everywhere. Across cloudless skies, the crows swoop in to the crown of the persimmon tree. They pluck the hearts from the just ripened fruit. Our orioles have left for another year. In their passing, they have vacated the hummingbird feeder leaving it to the bees.

Lots of migrating birds pause to dunk in the backyard bird baths while resident doves line the telephone wires waiting for their daily buffet.

Weekly, a Cooper’s hawk swoops in for a bath while the larger red-shouldered hawk lurks from atop the neighbor’s backyard shed. Their presence is witnessed by clumps of rabbit hair along the fence-line. While not intended to be an animal trap, the new good-neighbor fence has proved to be just that.

Marking the arrival of autumn is All Hallows Eve. It is when ghosts and goblins go bump in the night. As minions of wee revelers approach our doors with taunts of mischief, one is reminded of the many sacrificed brown-paper bags destined to protect our youthful obscurity in quest for treats. But really isn’t it more fun to raid the spoils of our relatives? It doesn’t require any labor at all. Just wait until the darlings fall into a sugar-coma and then quietly sort through their loot.

Next up is Thanksgiving. We’re hosting an early feast with friends a good two-weeks before the day. After all, why the fourth Thursday in November? Mostly now, it’s the day Macy’s announces the coming of Santa and the beginning of their Christmas sales. To wit, we’ve already received a catalog stuffed full of toys for the grandkids to peruse. They’ve already circled and labeled their choices as sugar plums dance across their eyes.

Still, it is my favorite holiday. Christmas holds a special place in my heart. My husband grumbles about Christmas. As I would as well if, like his, my birthday landed on Dec. 25. Before ya know it, this year will have passed and we’ll be looking at 2023.

I’m not going to make any resolutions; instead, I’ve decided to share some of today’s best emails.

“My Saturday was going pretty well, until I realized it was Sunday.”

“I never make the same mistake twice. I do it like, five or six times, you know, to make sure.”

“Some people seem to have aged like fine wine. I aged like milk ... I got sour and chunky.”

But I think Oscar Wilde said it best, "to get back to my youth, I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal can be reached at [email protected].