My Culture11 column, in which I discuss the aesthetic and philosophical pleasures of this glorious season (which just arrived yesterday in north Texas, by the way). Excerpt:
See, this is why I came up with a ritual to celebrate the arrival of the first real cold front of the autumn. For years on this day, I've poured myself a splash of whiskey and played the great Van Morrison and the Chieftains' disc "Irish Heartbeat," as I will do this evening. The greatness of autumn is not so much found in its relief from the summer heat, but in the aesthetic delights it offers. The wood smoke on the wind, the first fire in the hearth, cheery orange pumpkins and the sweet bosky aroma of decaying pecan leaves. Sweaters and tweeds; peaty Scotch whisky, crisp dark beer and jammy red wine; roast meats, fragrant stews and French onion soup. Bach's solo cello suites, old Van Morrison and the new film season. College football! Thanksgiving, gateway to Christmas!
That's the aesthetic part. For the philosophic part, read on...
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That last comment for Salamander was from me.
But politics has nothing to do with it. Conservative, Liberal, Traditionalist, Libertarian, the trees dress for us all.
Charles Cosimano
October 23, 2008 11:26 AM
I agree, Charles, that seasons know no politics. (Obviously!) But Rod makes a good point. I've always understood my own "conservatism" less as a political stance than a way of being... a way of "seeing"...a temperament, if you will. My conservatism is based on a deep sense that the more things change, the more they stay the same.... that there is a deep, abiding order, both in nature and in HUMAN nature... that we are all as fragile, and as enduring, as a fall leaf. I savor the death of things just as I rejoice in the birth of things. The older I get, the more I see liberalism as a quest for some eternal, ever-greening spring right here on earth. It's a pursuit that goes against my very nature, with its love of cycles and passages, death and rebirth, and the rituals and ceremonies that mark them all, throughout time. I have a feeling that's what Rod was talking about in his gorgeous essay. Not conservative politics, but the conservative personality. He may correct me if I'm wrong.
Very nice writeup. It sounds like you are a Van fan. Likewise. I like to supplement the celebration of the season with Van Morrison's "Hard Nose the Highway" ... very Autumn! In fact, one of the songs is Autumn Song.
Van is a lesser deity in my home, too. I listened to Irish Heartbeat, oh, about 70,000 times when it first came out in 1988.
Yes, fall is a huge blessing, especially in Texas.
Rod nails the suffering of summer here, and its seemingly interminable length.
If I was rich I would move to the mountains in New Mexico or Colorado from the end of May til mid-October, and then come back to Texas for the end of the amazing state fair, and the beatiful cool weather that follows. Really fall in Texas is Nov. through February, since we really don't have winter. We have summer (5 mos., June through Oct.), fall (4 mos., Nov.-Feb.), and spring (3 mo., March-May)
At our house we celebrate the first big cold front by going out and eating mexcian food. It's always good, but never better than on a chilly night.
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