Black and Sun

Another pleasant throw-back to my childhood conjured up by Austin Fall: pecans.

In elementary school, during these same months of Fall, we used to spend our recess time stomping on pecans with our penny loafers and eating the delectable nutmeats inside. At least until our teachers scolded us…don’t eat that, that’s dirty! Which we of course promptly ignored once the teachers turned their attention to more important concerns, like the boys clobbering one another at the other end of the playground.

Finding sustenance in the trees and bushes and sidewalks of home or school is perhaps one of a child’s most primal pleasures.  It’s what we’ve been programmed through evolution to seek out, and yet, in our modern world where food is found at grocery stores and restaurants but surely not at the roots of a tree, it’s a surprise and joy to find something on the ground that you can actually put in your mouth.

And walking down the street to our local café, stomping on pecans along the way, I find myself revisiting this childhood pleasure in force.

Do I miss New England Fall this year? Maybe a little. But only a little. Austin Fall suits me just fine.