A couple of years ago, I started writing some of the memories that I had with my friend Toby for each of the seasons of the years. I was looking through some of my old posts, and I realized that I never posted about any of the Autumn memories. I know that we are in the midst of Summer here where I live, but I've decided to write a little bit about what we did during the Autumn months of the year.
What we liked most about the Autumn was the fact that the weather was much cooler, and we could get outside and do some of the things that we liked to do. For instance, we always enjoyed taking short walks through the orchard. It was the time of the year when the fruit was ripe especially the apples. One of my jobs was to pick the ripe apples so that we could sell some of them. Toby was always ready to go out and make sure that I was picking the apples correctly. One year, our yellow delicious apple tree had so many apples that my Mom was able to sell multiple sacks of apples off of just that one tree. During that time we had about eight apple trees as well as cherry, pear, plum and peach trees. Toby liked to walk among the fruit trees when it was cool. We also liked to inspect what was left of the grape vines.
Since the weather was cooler, we also took advantage of the opportunity to do more cookouts with the little charcoal stove. We liked to sit out on the picnic table on the patio and enjoy the view, the cool weather and something good to eat.
Cooler weather also allowed for more games. We always loved hide and seek, and when it was cooler, we could play to our hearts content.
When Autumn rolled around, I had to go to classes at college, but they were mostly in the morning. That left the afternoon for the two of us to enjoy each others company and listen to the music that we like to listen to such as Jazz and Classical.
The highlight of every Autumn was our favorite of all holidays, Thanksgiving. My Mom made a huge dinner every year. Big eaters like me and Toby were in seventh heaven. We had turkey, dressing, green beans, rolls, sweat potatoes, pumpkin pie and I don't know what all else. Toby didn't get all of those things but he ate his fair share of turkey, and that dog really loved green beans, so he had to have a portion of those as well. We ate so much on Thanksgiving that the two of us would just go out and lay on the couch and watch football games for the rest of the day. We were too full to even move. The sad thing is that when evening rolled around, we were back in the turkey again to get some more to eat. We had insatiable appetites for the foods we loved. Toby loved chicken the most and my favorite is macaroni and cheese.
The last Autumn that the two of us spent together was probably the best. I had graduated from college, and I had started working as a writing. That Autumn, I was working on a lot of poems that I would eventually get published. I remember working in my office for many hours on poetry and some other writing projects. Toby was always right there with me. He had a spot where he would always rest. However, he was always alert if I was to get up to leave the room. He always followed me wherever I went.
That Autumn, I purchased a new computer. I can remember well how Toby assisted me in getting it set up. He had to inspect every component and the inside of every box.
One last thing that I want to mention about our Autumns together is astronomy. We loved to go out in the evenings and look at the stars and the planets. In the Autumn, you could go out more and observe because the bugs weren't bad after the first frost. We'd spend hours outside with the telescope enjoying each others company.
I miss Toby everyday. One day we will be together again.
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