Autumn Forging

I would say that early autumn is my favorite time for forging.  The heat is past and the rush of summer slows a bit.  There are a lot of chores to be done in the ever shortening daylight hours but it is good to anticipate the day the work will be done and we will be ready for winter.  All the while I can enjoy the changing leaf color, the sequence of migrating species and the taste or ripe persimmons and pawpaws and, in some years, black walnuts too.

I get up early and as the sunlight appears across the landscape, from my writing room window I can see wheat greening across the creek in the field extending north to the river.  About 0800 I start looking for the whitetails moving west along the creek tree line heading for their bedding ground.  I usually see them just as the suns rays begin hitting the ground north of the creek.

A couple of weeks ago it was a pleasure to hear my feet shuffling through the ankle deep leaves on the way to the studio.  Now we have cleared the leaves and with the bare trees it is beginning to look like winter.

The sky was filled with migrating birds a month ago but now it is also bare except for an occasional goose or contrail.

I checked the weather forecast and it looks like today will be the last shirt-sleeve day of 2013.  The best forging weather for me is when I can have the doors open and look out and see interesting sights outdoors.  For the next five months the doors will be closed and I’ll be dreaming about the first signs of Spring.

Persimmons against the November sky.