Signs of spring
Summer’s end
Here in New Mexico, the end of summer is chile season. I grow chiles (see the photo 🙂 ) but, like many New Mexicans, in August or September I go to a chile roaster and buy a sack of roasted green to get me through the winter. You can smell the arrival of chile-roasting season: the odor of charred chile wafts over the entire Rio Grande valley.
This smell is just one of many things I love about autumn in New Mexico. The clear blue skies, the warm days and cool nights, the way the colors seem so much brighter…usually mid-August feels like coming home.
This year has been different. I’ve been dreading the end of summer, partly due to day-job drama and partly for reasons I haven’t been able to articulate, even to myself. I’ve been frightened and anxious when I’ve contemplated the arrival of the autumn.
But this morning I woke to the smell of roasted chile. And it gave me faith: faith in myself, that I can deal with the challenges ahead; faith in the turning of the seasons; faith in the beauty of the world.