It feels like fall is here

It won’t be long before the plants have to begin their fall migration. The night-blooming cereus is now blooming. Thanks to the cooler weather, the magnificent blossoms are hanging around until the next afternoon instead of wilting before the morning has barely begun.

I would like to preserve the giant white flowers but part of their appeal is that they don’t last long. When it is not blooming, it is a gangly plant bearing both flat, scalloped leaves and long, skinny ones. The flowers develop in the scallops of the flat leaves.

The one I took home from Mom’s has never bloomed. It didn’t make it outside this year. It is too heavy and gangly to move. It reaches out and grabs me whenever I pass within its grasp. Thank goodness that this member of the cacti family doesn’t have stickers.

There are many ways to mark the seasons. Fall is when the gardens need to be cleaned up. It is when the plants get repotted and moved inside. For others, fall is when school starts. It is the time of year when I am not sure what to wear. It can be cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon.

For my daughter this time of year will always remind her of her son Jacob’s recent brain surgery to remove a growth that had taken up residence. There are many blood tests and MRIs in his future. He hates blood tests as much as the rest of us do and dislikes MRIs even more. Even though the surgery was deemed a success, the aftereffects are likely to be a lifelong concern.

The most reassuring photo popped up on my Facebook page. Jacob, his siblings and cousins are all piled in a heap on their grandparent’s bed in anticipation of a hunting trip. This was followed by a video of younger brother, Nicholas, sneaking up on a feral hog. It looked like he was carrying an ax.

When asked what he was going to do if he caught the animal, in typical little boy fashion he said, “Well, duh. Bacon!” Thank goodness the hog didn’t want to become bacon and wisely melted into the underbrush.

This brief display showing that things were getting back to normal helped me to reassure my daughter that Jacob was going to be just fine. One of the bad things about her being a nurse is that she knows what all can go wrong. She also has the courage to challenge doctors if she needs to.

Officially fall doesn’t begin for another couple of weeks. For me, autumn feels a lot like spring in reverse. Instead of preparing for summer, I feel the urge to prepare for winter. It is time to finally finish things I have left undone, either from lack of interest, hitting a snag or any of a number of other excuses.

The change of seasons is not official until Sept. 23 but it sure feels like fall to me. If the cereus is blooming, cool weather will soon be coming to stay. Now that I have seen for myself that Jacob is looking better, there are things I need to wrap up before the cold is here to stay.