Vicki Doudera - Realtor, Author, Mainer

It’s the first day of autumn, my favorite season here in Maine. Minutes ago I walked our dogs around the neighborhood and noticed an orange-leafed sugar maple, glowing in the afternoon sun, one of the fist harbingers of this colorful time of year.  Before long, all of the trees will be similarly clad, and the pumpkins that are beginning to be displayed at roadside farm stands will adorn front stoops and walkways.

This September has been unusually chilly.  We’ve had the heat on once or twice, and today I grabbed a jacket on my way out to show property.  There is a definite change in the air, more than just a drop in temperature, but a real awareness that summer is behind us and winter on the way. The light is beautiful: it must be the angle of the sun at this point in the calendar, and everything from the fading goldenrod to the dusty brown-eyed Susans are as crisply defined as the taste of a just-picked Mac.

There is uncertainty in the news, instability in the financial markets, and unease in the political arena, but the change of the seasons is reassuring. The cycle goes on, whether altered by the ozone’s thinning or not, and I am a grateful witness to the graceful appearance of this bountiful, beautiful time of year.