more signs of autumn approaching

This week the dogwoods started to turn. It's not as noticeable from the house, but when I drove into the driveway one afternoon, the slight tinge of red stood out. The changing of the leaves here is one of the things that marks the passage of time for me, in a very deep way, and seeing that first hint of color has a tremendous and positive effect on my mood.

Also this week I noted three garden or "writing" spiders around the house. Two are by my bedroom window, and one is front and center on the front porch. As much as it would terrify me to have one on my skin, I love these yellow and black beauties, who represent writing - both in the webs and in their egg-building phase which comes later in the season. Last year I was able to watch one go through its entire process - living all summer and into the fall on the porch, building two egg cases literally over one long night, and later dying and falling from her web.

Last night my son pointed out the first of the "Halloween" spiders, as we call them. This particular one has a lovely orbed web outside of our sliding glass door. When you turn on the outside light, it's illuminated perfectly, and looks almost like a Halloween decoration.

I love these spiders because they generally take their webs down each day, curl up near the side of the house, and then rebuild in the evening when the sun sets. Watching them set up for the night, in what must be something akin to whole house cleaning, makes me feel better about the cyclic nature of chores.

A sure sign of fall for me is the cleaning out of closets. It hit suddenly, yesterday afternoon, and I managed to get the front closet completely cleared out, cleaned, and organized. Winter coats are there, and all the hats/gloves/scarves. I also tend to stick things for the thrift store there, or things I might try to sell, so I ended the day listing a number of items on Craigslist.

A closet a week should put me square into autumn, and then I can stop and enjoy the color and the coolness.