Early Signs of Autumn

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Speaker 1 Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Everyone.

Speaker 1 In which nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good.

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I create everything you hear on nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to Seal Rescue Ireland.

Speaker 1 Seal Rescue Ireland is a charity dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of sick, injured, or orphaned seals.

Speaker 1 You can learn more about them in our show notes.

Speaker 1 I have a lot more to offer you than bedtime stories. Did you know? A lot of people don't because they're already asleep.

Speaker 1 We have a daytime version of the show for unwinding and relaxation.

Speaker 1 a 10-minute guided meditation show with over 150 episodes, lots of fun community on our social feeds and website, and of course, an upgraded version of this show with dozens of bonuses and extra long episodes.

Speaker 1 Learn more and subscribe in our show notes or at good old nothingmuchhappens.com

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 let's do a little cognitive reshuffling. We're going to light up certain sections of your brain while we sing a lullaby to others.

Speaker 1 And the effect, with with almost no effort on your part, will be to train you to fall asleep more quickly and return to sleep more easily.

Speaker 1 So just listen to the sound of my voice and the gentle shape of the story. I'll tell it twice

Speaker 1 and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Early Signs of Autumn. And it's a story about turning leaves

Speaker 1 and a slight spicy scent on the breeze. It's also about zucchini bread and hot coffees traded for iced, school supplies and new mysteries at the bookshop, orange candles, shifting evening light.

Speaker 1 and excitement for new experiences to come.

Speaker 1 It's night-night time, friends.

Speaker 1 Get as comfortable as you can and take a moment to really be in your body.

Speaker 1 And feel how good it is to be in bed, to be done with the day,

Speaker 1 safe,

Speaker 1 calm,

Speaker 1 ready for sleep.

Speaker 1 Draw a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.

Speaker 1 Do that again. Breathe in

Speaker 1 and let it go.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Early signs of autumn.

Speaker 1 The box elder at the end of my street was turning yellow

Speaker 1 and when I saw it I thought

Speaker 1 it was much too soon.

Speaker 1 It was still August after all and the days were plenty hot and sunny.

Speaker 1 I said as much to a friend

Speaker 1 and she reminded me that we'd had the same conversation

Speaker 1 the August before

Speaker 1 and possibly the one before that, too.

Speaker 1 It's always this way, she sighed. A few trees turn early,

Speaker 1 some because it's just their makeup,

Speaker 1 and some because the end of summer dry spells send a signal to them to wrap it up for the year.

Speaker 1 I knew she was right,

Speaker 1 but still,

Speaker 1 this early sign of the coming season surprised me.

Speaker 1 And it wasn't the only one that did.

Speaker 1 There was a row of burning bushes along the country road near the lavender farm,

Speaker 1 and their deep green leaves were now crimson.

Speaker 1 The farmers' market stalls were absolutely overflowing with produce.

Speaker 1 But it wasn't the tender lettuce and sweet berries of early summer.

Speaker 1 I'd brought home a zucchini the size of my arm,

Speaker 1 a spaghetti squash,

Speaker 1 and a basket of crisp, sweet apples the last time I'd gone.

Speaker 1 I suspected any day now,

Speaker 1 Brussels sprouts sprouts and curly endive would show up.

Speaker 1 And then would come the pumpkins. I could hardly believe it.

Speaker 1 We were

Speaker 1 at most weeks away from pumpkins.

Speaker 1 And I wasn't sad

Speaker 1 about how the summer had flown.

Speaker 1 Just sort of shocked.

Speaker 1 I thought back.

Speaker 1 It had been a wonderful summer.

Speaker 1 Maybe that is what had made it pass so quickly. How much I had enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 I'd taken a watercolor class that met at the beach.

Speaker 1 I'd gone to the evening picnic and concert out at the village museum.

Speaker 1 There had been lazy days floating in the pool,

Speaker 1 backyard cookouts,

Speaker 1 and I'd read a half-dozen books at least,

Speaker 1 thanks to the long evenings and lasting light.

Speaker 1 There'd been a double feature at the drive-in,

Speaker 1 bike rides,

Speaker 1 and the thrill of growing my first ranunculus,

Speaker 1 tomato sandwiches,

Speaker 1 and rainbows thrown from the sprinklers in the yard,

Speaker 1 naps on the porch, mint iced tea,

Speaker 1 and finally writing in that pretty journal I'd had for years

Speaker 1 and been afraid to mark up with my scribbles.

Speaker 1 So yes, now that I thought back on it,

Speaker 1 they had been a very full few months.

Speaker 1 I was a little more ready

Speaker 1 to welcome what would come next.

Speaker 1 And as I walked through downtown,

Speaker 1 I saw I wasn't the only one.

Speaker 1 I turned a corner and came upon the bookstore.

Speaker 1 I stopped to look at the window display.

Speaker 1 There was a tall stack of books with their titles turned to the street,

Speaker 1 each one just a gradient of color different from the one below.

Speaker 1 Beginning with green

Speaker 1 and blooming upward into yellows, oranges, and reds.

Speaker 1 Beside them were this season's crop of witchy mysteries and romances,

Speaker 1 intriguing covers showing fog

Speaker 1 and eerie houses,

Speaker 1 skeleton keys and candlesticks.

Speaker 1 My eyes went wide and I chuckled to myself,

Speaker 1 still sweating in the summer heat,

Speaker 1 but very excited to get several of them onto my bedside table.

Speaker 1 A little farther down the street, the stationery shop was stocking classic black and white composition notebooks and pencil cases.

Speaker 1 From their open door, I heard a snippet of conversation

Speaker 1 between a parent and a child

Speaker 1 about how many marker tops had been lost the year before,

Speaker 1 how said markers had then dried out

Speaker 1 and had to be tossed prematurely.

Speaker 1 Still,

Speaker 1 it seemed another set was being acquired for the coming school year.

Speaker 1 Their shopping basket was full of folders and notebooks,

Speaker 1 art supplies and pencils.

Speaker 1 I had a feeling this was the usual preschool pep talk

Speaker 1 to take good care of their things

Speaker 1 and make them last as long as could be.

Speaker 1 A tale as old as time.

Speaker 1 In the gift shop on the corner, I caught a distinct and familiar scent wafting from inside.

Speaker 1 Could it be?

Speaker 1 I went in and wandered the aisles till I found the candle section.

Speaker 1 Sure enough, the pumpkin candles had arrived,

Speaker 1 and among the rows of them, in prominent position,

Speaker 1 one set slowly melting under a warmer.

Speaker 1 I leaned out of the aisle and caught the eye of the clerk behind the desk.

Speaker 1 She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Speaker 1 I'm ready, she said simply.

Speaker 1 I nodded.

Speaker 1 I get it, I assured her.

Speaker 1 I checked the sandwich board sign outside of the bakery.

Speaker 1 So far, no pumpkin muffins or maple spiced scones.

Speaker 1 Though,

Speaker 1 there was zucchini bread,

Speaker 1 which I think is the bridge between peach pie and those autumn treats.

Speaker 1 At the coffee shop, pumpkin spice and apple cider drinks hadn't been chalked up on the board, but I noticed more customers drinking their lattes hot rather than iced.

Speaker 1 It was as if a subconscious signal had gone out through the town

Speaker 1 to start to shift course

Speaker 1 toward fall.

Speaker 1 Walking on, I searched my memory

Speaker 1 for a a word I'd learned years before.

Speaker 1 A word that described the biological response plants and animals have

Speaker 1 to the subtle shift of day to night ratio.

Speaker 1 Um

Speaker 1 photo

Speaker 1 photo periodism.

Speaker 1 Yes,

Speaker 1 that was it.

Speaker 1 In late summer, as the days began to get a bit shorter,

Speaker 1 the change in light triggers birds to prepare for migration,

Speaker 1 trees to shift toward dormancy,

Speaker 1 animals to grow their winter coats,

Speaker 1 and even humans to change their behavior a bit.

Speaker 1 Appetites and sleep schedules would begin to alter.

Speaker 1 At the flower shop, a wagon full of mums

Speaker 1 with tightly closed buds

Speaker 1 sat temptingly on the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 The clothing shop had a red raincoat and yellow Wellington boots on display in the window.

Speaker 1 A sign at the bicycle shop, propped in a basket and surrounded by helmets,

Speaker 1 had a countdown to the first bike bus of the school year.

Speaker 1 Just then,

Speaker 1 a breeze of cooler air blew over me,

Speaker 1 and I could smell

Speaker 1 the slightest hint of dry grass and spice in it,

Speaker 1 I took a deep breath

Speaker 1 and opened my arms to let the wind circle around me.

Speaker 1 We still had time to enjoy the summer.

Speaker 1 Her days weren't done yet.

Speaker 1 But when they were,

Speaker 1 I'd be ready for a change.

Speaker 1 Early signs of autumn.

Speaker 1 The box elder at the end of my street

Speaker 1 was turning yellow.

Speaker 1 And when I saw it,

Speaker 1 I thought

Speaker 1 it was much too soon.

Speaker 1 It was still August, after all,

Speaker 1 and the days were plenty hot and sunny.

Speaker 1 I said as much to a friend,

Speaker 1 and she reminded me that we'd had the same conversation the August before,

Speaker 1 and possibly the one before that too.

Speaker 1 It's always this way, she sighed.

Speaker 1 A few trees turn early,

Speaker 1 some because

Speaker 1 it's just their makeup,

Speaker 1 and some

Speaker 1 because the end of summer dry spells

Speaker 1 can send a signal to them to wrap it up for the year.

Speaker 1 I knew she was right,

Speaker 1 but still,

Speaker 1 this early sign of the coming season

Speaker 1 had surprised me,

Speaker 1 and it wasn't the only one that did.

Speaker 1 There was a row of burning bushes

Speaker 1 along the country road

Speaker 1 near the lavender farm,

Speaker 1 and their deep green leaves were now crimson.

Speaker 1 The farmers' market stalls

Speaker 1 were absolutely overflowing with produce.

Speaker 1 But it wasn't the tender lettuce and sweet berries

Speaker 1 of early summer.

Speaker 1 I'd brought home a zucchini

Speaker 1 the size of my arm,

Speaker 1 a spaghetti squash,

Speaker 1 and a basket

Speaker 1 of crisp, sweet apples

Speaker 1 the last time I'd gone.

Speaker 1 I suspected

Speaker 1 any day now,

Speaker 1 Brussels sprouts

Speaker 1 and curly endive

Speaker 1 would show up

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 would come the pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I could hardly believe it.

Speaker 1 We were,

Speaker 1 at most,

Speaker 1 weeks away from pumpkins.

Speaker 1 I wasn't sad about how the summer had flown,

Speaker 1 just sort of surprised.

Speaker 1 I thought back

Speaker 1 it had been

Speaker 1 a wonderful summer.

Speaker 1 Maybe that is what had made it pass so quickly

Speaker 1 how much I had enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 I'd taken a watercolor class that met at the beach.

Speaker 1 I'd gone to the evening picnic and concert out at the village museum.

Speaker 1 There had been lazy days

Speaker 1 floating in the pool,

Speaker 1 backyard cookouts,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 I'd read a half-dozen books at least,

Speaker 1 thanks to the long evenings

Speaker 1 and lasting light.

Speaker 1 There'd been a double feature at the drive-in

Speaker 1 bike rides

Speaker 1 and the thrill

Speaker 1 of growing my first ranunculus,

Speaker 1 tomato sandwiches,

Speaker 1 and rainbows thrown from the sprinklers in the yard,

Speaker 1 naps on the porch,

Speaker 1 mint iced tea,

Speaker 1 and finally writing in that pretty journal I'd had for years

Speaker 1 and been afraid to mark up with my scribbles.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 1 yes,

Speaker 1 now that I thought back on it,

Speaker 1 they had been

Speaker 1 a very full few months.

Speaker 1 I was a little more ready

Speaker 1 to welcome what would come next.

Speaker 1 and as I walked through downtown

Speaker 1 I saw that I wasn't the only one.

Speaker 1 I turned a corner and came upon the bookstore.

Speaker 1 I stopped to look at the window display.

Speaker 1 There was a tall stack of books

Speaker 1 with their titles turned to the street,

Speaker 1 each one

Speaker 1 just a gradient of color different

Speaker 1 from the one below,

Speaker 1 beginning with green

Speaker 1 and blooming upward

Speaker 1 into yellows and oranges and reds.

Speaker 1 Beside them were this season's crop of witchy mysteries and romances,

Speaker 1 intriguing covers

Speaker 1 showing fog

Speaker 1 and eerie houses,

Speaker 1 skeleton keys

Speaker 1 and candlesticks.

Speaker 1 My eyes went wide,

Speaker 1 and I chuckled to myself,

Speaker 1 still sweating in the summer heat,

Speaker 1 but very excited

Speaker 1 to get several of them

Speaker 1 on to my bedside table.

Speaker 1 A little farther down the street

Speaker 1 the stationery shop

Speaker 1 was stocking

Speaker 1 classic

Speaker 1 black and white

Speaker 1 composition notebooks

Speaker 1 and pencil cases.

Speaker 1 From their open door

Speaker 1 I heard a snippet of conversation

Speaker 1 between a parent and child

Speaker 1 about how many marker tops

Speaker 1 had been lost the year before

Speaker 1 how

Speaker 1 said markers

Speaker 1 had then dried out

Speaker 1 and had to be tossed prematurely

Speaker 1 still

Speaker 1 it seemed another set was being acquired

Speaker 1 for the coming school year.

Speaker 1 Their shopping basket

Speaker 1 was full of folders

Speaker 1 and notebooks,

Speaker 1 art supplies,

Speaker 1 and pencils.

Speaker 1 I had a feeling this was the usual preschool pep talk

Speaker 1 to take good care of their things

Speaker 1 and make them last as long as could be.

Speaker 1 A tale as old as time

Speaker 1 In the gift shop on the corner

Speaker 1 I caught a distinct and familiar scent wafting from inside.

Speaker 1 Could it be?

Speaker 1 I went in

Speaker 1 and wandered the aisles

Speaker 1 till I found the candle section.

Speaker 1 Sure enough

Speaker 1 The pumpkin candles had arrived

Speaker 1 and among the rows of them

Speaker 1 in prominent position

Speaker 1 one set

Speaker 1 slowly melting under a warmer

Speaker 1 I leaned out of the aisle

Speaker 1 and caught the eye of the clerk behind the desk.

Speaker 1 She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Speaker 1 I'm ready, she said simply.

Speaker 1 I nodded.

Speaker 1 I get it,

Speaker 1 I assured her.

Speaker 1 I checked the sandwich board

Speaker 1 outside of the bakery.

Speaker 1 So far,

Speaker 1 no pumpkin muffins or maple spiced scones.

Speaker 1 Though

Speaker 1 there was zucchini bread,

Speaker 1 which

Speaker 1 I think is the bridge

Speaker 1 between peach pie

Speaker 1 and those autumn treats

Speaker 1 at the coffee shop

Speaker 1 the pumpkin spice and apple cider drinks

Speaker 1 hadn't been chalked up on the board

Speaker 1 But I noticed more customers drinking their lattes hot

Speaker 1 rather than iced.

Speaker 1 It was as if a subconscious signal had gone out through the town

Speaker 1 to start to shift course

Speaker 1 toward fall

Speaker 1 Walking on

Speaker 1 I searched my memory for a word I'd learned

Speaker 1 years before

Speaker 1 a word that

Speaker 1 described the biological response

Speaker 1 plants and animals have

Speaker 1 to the subtle shift

Speaker 1 of day to night ratio.

Speaker 1 Um,

Speaker 1 photo

Speaker 1 photo periodism.

Speaker 1 Yes, that was it

Speaker 1 in late summer, as the days begin to get a bit shorter,

Speaker 1 the change in light triggers birds to prepare for migration.

Speaker 1 Trees to shift toward dormancy.

Speaker 1 Animals

Speaker 1 to grow their winter coats,

Speaker 1 and even humans to change their behavior a bit.

Speaker 1 Appetites and sleep schedules

Speaker 1 would begin to alter.

Speaker 1 At the flower shop,

Speaker 1 a wagon full of mums

Speaker 1 with tightly closed buds

Speaker 1 sat temptingly on the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 The kitchen shop had a red raincoat

Speaker 1 and yellow Wellington boots on display in the window.

Speaker 1 A sign at the bicycle shop,

Speaker 1 propped in a basket

Speaker 1 and surrounded by helmets,

Speaker 1 had a countdown

Speaker 1 to the first bike bus of the school year.

Speaker 1 Just then,

Speaker 1 a breeze of cooler air

Speaker 1 blew over me

Speaker 1 and I could smell

Speaker 1 the slightest hint of dry grass and spice in it.

Speaker 1 I took a deep breath and opened my arms to let the wind circle around me.

Speaker 1 We still had time

Speaker 1 to enjoy the summer.

Speaker 1 Her days weren't done yet,

Speaker 1 but when they were,

Speaker 1 I'd be ready

Speaker 1 for change.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.