OCTOBER - THE YEAR'S LAST, LOVIEST SMILE

Blooming lilacs

October arrived with the dismal days of relentless rains. Prior to this wave of wet days, September was cheerfully dry and hot. So warm, it tricked the buds on our now leafless lilac bushes and allowed the buds to start flowering. Now, I’m worried whether flowers will appear on the bushes when spring rolls around in 2025.

October in the Central Pennsylvania mountains is known for its vibrant vista.  Maple and birch trees burst into a panorama of colors from ruby reds to carrot-colored oranges and golden yellows. Foggy mornings, falling leaves, hills of blooming goldenrod, and the rich brown of cattails in the swamps, also add to our dazzling landscape.

The scent of wood smoke riding on the breeze means the wood stoves and the fireplaces, indoors and outside, have been ignited to chase the chill away and welcome autumn. It’s also the month of pumpkin and apple picking—a time when our hungry thoughts turn to pies, pastries, applesauce, and cider, served hot or cold.  

This year, the osage orange tree my husband planted years ago beside our deck for shade provided crates of oranges that we hauled to the local dump. The oranges are useless since the taste is bitter. However, Native Americans used its stout wood for war clubs and tomahawk handles. Early settlers and pioneers found the wood useful for creating wagon wheel rims and hubs. The ridged and scaly bark of the trunk provided both a fiber for rope and tannin for making leather. Thorny osage orange trees are still planted by farmers for hedge rows to keep livestock corralled and out of their harvested fields.

Many folks refer to autumn and October as “the year's last, loveliest smile." I think of her as a warm transition period, warning me and my Northern friends that the breath of winter is nearby. Raking leaves, cleaning out flowerbeds, storing away outside furniture, covering delicate plants from hungry deer, and searching for snow shovels are all part of the merriment of Pennsylvania’s October. 

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IS PATIENCE A VIRTUE?

Do you sometimes get impatient? I do. Just ask my husband. He’ll probably reveal that I’m very good at it. I’ve learned that people who prefer to be busy most of their waking moments seem to have the most problem with being patient. And, I’m a person who likes to be busy.

In modern terms of today, patience is described as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. And, virtue is described at behavior showing high moral standards. The other day I pondered how the definition of patience today has changed so drastically from its definition of fifteen centuries ago.   

The phrase, patience is a virtue, is a proverbial phrase, transmitted by oral tradition, dating back to the fifth century A.D. from an epic poem called  Psychomachig which was written by late antique Latin poet, Prudentius. His seven heavenly virtues are in response to the seven deadly sins, updated also in fifth century A.D. by Pope Gregory I. Obviously, these two opposite groups, virtues and sins, represent the battle between good and evil.

What are the seven virtues? They are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness , patience, and humility. The deadly sins are: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, and pride. (Each virtue is considered the opposite of each sin and is listed in the same numerical order.) Thus, patience is used to combat wrath.

But in today’s world, I believe patience now has many different variations and degrees as opposed to its earlier meaning. We are currently living in a world quite unlike the 15^th century where people lived in rural villages, life expectancy was 35 years old, and communications was word of mouth.

According to the medical community, patience is a skill that can be learned and practiced. It’s a result of choosing to emphasize thinking over feeling. The ability of technology to deliver immediate responses has caused us, as humans, to become more impatience. After all, we no longer write letters. Even phone calls take time. We now prefer to message others on our cellphones for a “quick” response.

So how does one solve being impatient? It entails learning to re-evaluate why you are impatient at a specific moment. Slowing down, re-evaluating the situation, focusing on priorities, accepting the inevitable—even resting are some of many ways to help people cope with irritating and annoyed feelings we call impatience.

As our frosty season approaches in Pennsylvania, I’m very content to virtuously and patiently wait as November transitions into winter. You see, I’m not a big fan of Old Man Winter.

Come March, however, I suspect I’ll throw virtue out the window. I’ll be  on the lookout daily for Flora, the Greek Goddess of spring buds and green shoots. Will I be impatiently waiting? Only time will tell. 

NEW - NEW - NEW     

COURTING BETSY -Book 3 of the Ashmore Brothers Series

  

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