October in Waimea always has the feeling of being an intermission after the traveling summer months, full of spectacles and long, long days. There is a shift happening that subtly fills the senses and encourages us to hold our breaths a bit as we wait for the first hints of the new season. In Hawaii we are always aware that everything must approach us over the distant reaches of the vast North Pacific. It forms an incredible moat at the feet of Hawaii’s towering sea cliffs, punctuated here and there with safe anchorages and sweeping, sunny beaches. So in October we glance out to sea and wait.
First come the Golden Plover, our kolea, almost falling from the sky, exhausted after their incredible 2600 mile flight from their hatching grounds in Alaska. They arrive shaky and thin, and we are so relieved when “our” bird reappears to once again grace our lawns. This year our family’s kolea arrived early and is already regaining some of his lost strength. I think maybe his chicks didn’t make it through the Aleutian summer, and he had no reason to stay on as the freezing days of autumn settled over the land.
For most of us October is identified by its last day, Halloween. All over the US, of course, Halloween is symbolized by the pumpkins that have been harvested from hillside fields, loaded onto trucks and brought into town at mid-month for the delight of children of all ages. Folks our age wonder if we will ever manage to carve a pumpkin worthy of our front porch! Mothers start worrying about little hands and kitchen knives, and there is a run on votive candles!
I had always thought of a carved pumpkin as a kind of mock, scary thing that went along with goblins, witches and spider webs. However, my wonderful daughter pointed out to me that the warm, flickering light within the sunset colors of the pumpkin seem to be what little we are allowed to take with us into the winter from the summer season now passed.
She is right, and soon we will be staring at home fires in stoves and fireplaces as the cold winter sky fills with white diamonds high over the roof tops. Perhaps you will know the joy of feeling your child or grandchild falling asleep under your arm as the logs glow and crackle, filling the room with dancing light. We are actually not simply creatures made of flesh and bone. Our real selves are made of love, and we burn within our bodies, as eternal as the stars. Maybe that is what the pumpkin’s happy light is all about.
May October days bring you joy and beauty. May October’s night bring you dreams filled with love and happiness!
