Life sped up

Peaches from Ditzler’s Orchard, north of Terre Haute, Ind.

I’ve noticed that as I get older, the days, weeks – even years – fly by at warp speed compared to when I was young. At least that’s how it feels. I remember school getting out and my brother’s and my trip to the local library to get the first few books on our reading list. I remember leaving windows open in the house at night to get the cross breeze because we didn’t have air conditioning. I remember going down the street to play at the Dunning’s house and not coming home until the street lights came on (or someone came and got me, whichever came first). I remember walking over to Baskin Robbins, getting an ice cream cone and having half of it fall onto the pavement before I made it home (to this day, I am ice cream cone challenged). Three months seemed like an eternity, at least until school started.

This spring and summer with its Global warming indicators, has increased life’s pace once again. In Indiana, and in many other parts of the country, spring came early with a dry, hot summer on its heels. And, what happened to our winter? Was it too much to ask for a few larger-than-life snowflake storms that leveled even the most rolling of hills? The kind of fluffy snow that bends (not breaks) pine trees’ limbs and makes you want to drink hot chocolate, snuggled up on the couch, watching the flakes fall. And, the kind of heavy snow that causes my dog, Hershey, to run around the yard, pretending his nose is a bulldozer, making little piles of white and then sneezing because he got snow up his nose.

Two weeks’ ago the weatherperson reported cooler temperatures and the possibility of rain after several months of drought. For many trees, the leaves have already dried up and fallen off, due to the extremely dry conditions. Practically overnight, after the nightly temperature dropped by 20 degrees and the rain fell, more leaves have turned orange, then brown, and fallen off and piled up. Birds have begun to fly south and squirrels are scurrying around the backyard as if they are behind on their winter food stash.

This Amish gal is a milk cow at Peachy’s Grocery.

The corn failed to yield good crops this year so cattle went to market early so farmers didn’t have to feed them with high-priced feed. Luckily, milk cows did okay this year.

Apples not yet ripened to perfection at Ditzler’s Orchard.

The air has actually been crisp in the morning before the sun rises. Fall has come in the middle of August even though fall’s official start date is Sept. 22. Really? I almost feel like it’s a false sense of security and the temperature is going to climb again into the 90s.

My friend and I went for a country drive in search of fresh produce. We ran across Ditzler’s Orchard and got the juiciest peaches, crisp Gala apples and organic cucumbers, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and more. Yum-ee! She anticipates having apple cider, caramel apples and other such goodies in a month or so. There are pumpkins on the doorstep of a house that I pass on my way to work each morning. Fall is in the air and on people’s minds, because of the drastic shift in weather patterns.

According to a recent BusinessWeek article, apple crop production is down (of course) and apples are ripening earlier than ever. “Across the Great Lakes region, which includes four of the nation’s top 10 apple-growing states — New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio — fruit that survived is ripening weeks earlier than usual. … For people who enjoy visiting orchards to pick apples or stopping by a farm market to buy a bushel and a jug of cider on a crisp fall weekend, the message from growers is simple: If you wait too long, you may lose out.”

The seasons are on a schedule only known by their Maker. It’s a good reminder to me that there are forces at work much larger than myself. I may do all I can to plan and organize my life but in the end, there is a grander play in progress and I am merely on the stage. The comforting thought is that no matter what the timing is, it’s perfect in God’s eyes. I must ultimately rely on Him for my sustenance, whether it is food and mortgage money or the changing of the seasons and all that goes along with it. I must learn to yield to life’s changes and alterations. There are seasons in our lives and I must somehow find enjoyment in the part of the journey that I’m on. I truly wish to learn how to appreciate the day-to-day blessings that are all around me, whether it’s fall’s beautiful blanket of multi-colored leaves, fresh peaches that have just fallen from the tree into my shopper’s sack or trusting in God through prayer and quiet listening as the sun rises over the crisp, cool, morning fog.