Sunflower Season

“Which way will the sunflower turn surrounded by millions of suns?” ~ Allen Ginsberg

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Are you also feeling the pull of fall? The cool evenings, the quilt back on my bed…cold feet. But by day, the sun is still warm and soothing as it heats up the bricks on my patio and I reach for my straw hat again.

You may not realize it but there is a season between summer and fall. I call it Sunflower Season after the sturdy stalk with the orange bloom that like me, turns its face to the rising sun. I’m never ready to say good bye to summer this time of year…not yet.

I first became acquainted with the sunflower on the day of 9/11. My daughter was still young and in school so I spent my drive on the way home that afternoon imagining what I would say to her, how I might explain things. I stopped to pick up the makings for her favorite dinner and then at the last minute, grabbed a bunch of dazzling sunflowers from an enormous basket on the floor of the store. There was a sign that said they were free and for the taking. Later that week, I also filled the house with vegetables, apples and some other late summer flowers. My daughter and I may have been reeling that week but our home was filled with good things to eat and lovely blooms which overflowed on my old kitchen counters.

I never forgot what sunflowers did for me during that awful time. They reminded me that although the world had become more uncertain than ever before, there were still things that were beautiful…things that would always be there even when life changes along with the changing of the seasons.

Today I always buy sunflowers as soon as I see them in the markets. It’s amazing that I never realized the role they would eventually play in all my future autumns. I use the same vase for them too…an ancient basket that I outfitted with an upside down glass light fixture. They remind me that although winter is on the horizon, the days right now are still bright and warm. I revel in their sunny glow – the way they brighten my simple decor and most important of all, the way they constantly seek the sun.

This fifth season, squeezed between sultry summer and crisp fall, is not to be missed.

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How to make merry with Sunflower Season:

Go back to the beach with a chair, book and a good friend. Enjoy the emptiness. Imagine the sand snow-covered in a few months. Now is the time…

Buy chrysanthemums for the front porch

Toss a plaid throw onto one of the patio chairs where you can linger before dinner

Make an apple dessert and indulge

Play piano music in the background to soothe and comfort

Take evening walks in neighborhoods where there are houses basking in life’s joys

Visit the last mornings of the local farmer’s markets for seasonal vegetables. Eat from the land. Look for your final juicy peach of the season

Add yours….