Columbus Day
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| Love Nest Cedar I am reminded on the Columbus Day in October of the changes that are perennial in our beloved state of Maine. This day marks the ending of sorts of our busy summer season. The long weekend sees folks closing up their summer cottages and headed home to parts unknown. I am reminded of my Mother this Columbus Day. She would have cleaned out our summer cottage on Southport Island. Cupboards bared and mothballs sprinkled. Deck swept, porch furniture in. Bittersweet, as we knew we would not return till April. As I got older and settled here on Southport Island. My Mother would come with "leftovers". Not the kind of leftovers you might think, but spices purchased and not emptied. Windex and dish soap. Geraniums, which I aways ultimately killed. Anything that would not "keep" over the freezing winter would arrive on my doorstep. I think it was her way of purging, and I became the easy way out. She couldn't bare to throw these things out, and why she did not just take them home, I never asked. She arrived smelling of mothballs, it cloaked her like a fog. Mom insisted that these white stinky balls would keep the predators at bay. I am not convinced. Now, with Mom gone, there are no little jars of cinnamon that she did not use up in a summer of blueberry cakes. No baking soda, flour or curry. No scent of mothballs permeating this October day. So, a bit bittersweet today. I choose to use this day with my own purge. Sewing room is cleaned, fabric is sorted, and I too, change my focus and ready for fall. Projects laid out in anticipation of a spring renewed. The smells of cinnamon are swapped for steamy linens, cottons and warm flannels on the ironing board. Leftovers have become fabric remnants set aside to be born anew. The air is cool, the trees are turning. Colors alive in and on my cutting table on this nostalgic October day, missing my Mum. |
