Shifting Shadows of Fall
Cooler than expected air met the dogs and me at the back door this morning. Apparently, a cold front passed last night. I sat on the back steps and watched the dogs smell new scents from last night’s activity. This maritime forest of a back-yard provides habitat for raccoons, rats, squirrels, and a variety of birds, reptiles, and insects.
Grace coursed through the yard, methodically checking each spot where lizards, rats, or squirrels had once been seen or almost caught. She checked the hole in the tree, the base of the red honeysuckle at the power pole, then behind the beehives. Finally, she squatted to urinate. Zeke waited until she finished, then, as per his new ritual, he urinated in the same spot.
I enjoyed this departure from the heat, humidity, and swarming mosquitos common on most late summer mornings on Folly Beach. With cool air came northeasterly gusts, causing palmetto frons to rattle in spasms. A school bus passed east on Cooper Street.
Yesterday, the final weekly visitors headed home for the work season. Once again, the beach passed hands from those who visit to those who live here. After completing their backyard morning checklist, Zeke and Grace move inside for the next scheduled event, food time.
As a youth, nothing felt more glorious than walking out through the school doors for summer break. After that, each summer day, long, hot, and magnificent, started and ended like the day before. Weekdays and weekends blurred together.
As summer’s end now approached, indicators of fall begin to appear. Afternoon shadows grow in a slightly different direction. Days become noticeably shorter. Fall’s north wind brings the lonely clang of sailboat halyards against bare masts. Soon, sweaters get pulled from bottom drawers. Air conditioning gives way to open windows. Oyster season begins. By November, a wood-stove fire breaks the morning chill.
I poured my tea, then stirred in some Folly Beach honey and cream. In the distance, looking down into the tunnel of winter and through to the other side, I caught a glimpse of those school doors, waiting for me to emerge again into another glorious summer.
Captain Anton DuMars, a coastal geologist and long-time Folly Beach resident, still advocates for free-range hermit crabs. Contact Anton at sailspartina@gmail.com
