There are great songs about September (September Song, See you in September) and June (June is Bustin’ Out All Over, June in January) and April (April in Paris, I’ll Remember April), but few about October. Yet October is a beautiful month! We start with some of the mildness of late summer and loads of crazy color, wade through the pleasant aerobic rustle of raking the yard, drink cider, eat apple pastries, go on hay rides, and finish with kids in wild costumes eating enough tiny candy bars to make themselves sick! And there’s always a chance we’ll get a snowstorm somewhere in the middle of it. What other month has that range?
There is a tune called “October Song” written by Robin Williamson and performed by the Incredible String Band. Incredibly, the word “October” appears only once in the lyrics, which are otherwise about briars and fallen leaves, the fickleness of time and murder. Cheery. But it pales in comparison to the song “October”, by a North Carolina band with the uplifting name “Collapsis”.
And I never thought we’d break this ground.
Fall down, hit the ground, don’t make a sound.
It’s been nothing more than a big cheep thrill.
Yeah yeah this is my October.
Let me die.
What’s the problem? I know everything is dying right now, but do we have to focus on that? Is the “Oct” in October too reminiscent of the slithery, scary octopus? Are there not enough October rhymes? Can’t anyone come up with a hopeful ditty about October?
Apparently not. I just tried to invent a happy-go-lucky lyric with October in the text and in the very first verse it took a detour into the miserable lonesome cowboy-in-recovery genre and Merle Haggard demanded that I let him drawl it out.
This year has been a monster
and I’ve spent it on a binge.
From New Year’s through September
I did stuff that makes me cringe.
But now the warmth is ending
And the leaves are blowing free.
So sober through October
Is how I intend to be.
Sober through October
Is the promise that I make
Sober through October
‘Cause it’s wrong to drink and rake.
The air turns crisp, and if I booze
While flowers fade to brown.
I’m worried I might vanish
Beneath leaves piled on the ground.
So Darlin’, if you’re listening,
Here’s what I’m tryin’ to say.
I’m tryin’ not to be the man
who filled your car with hay.
I hate the ways I hurt you.
‘Least the ways that I recall.
So sober through October
Is how I will start my Fall.
Sober through October
Is my mission to complete.
Sober through October
‘cause it’s sad to drink or treat.
I’m askin’ you to help me
As I fight my private wars.
I want you by the bonfire
Should I slip and beg for ‘smores.
Oh well.
What’s your favorite thing about October?
Trail Baboon 
clever, but not uplifting Dale
EXCEPT for the lines:
“I’m tryin’ not to be the man
who filled your car with hay.”
any man (or woman) who wants to fill my car with hay (second crop, good amount of red clover, soft, green, no mold or dust) would be a great person! ergo, you are a great person! a beer or two wouldn’t hurt. it’s a good month, except that i can’t buy any more Leinie’s Summer Shandy. back to EPA.
what were we talking about? not drinking? sorry.
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Good point, Barb. It is one of my blind spots that I live in a suburban world where a hay filled car is seen as a problem to be solved, rather than a boon worthy of a celebratory beer. Thanks for the area code 218 reality check.
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Yeah, but then he really needs to make the line rhyme with ‘Semi’ or ‘pick up’, you think?
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oh yeah!
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Rise and Shine Babooners:
So Dale, do you have a cowboy crooner to set that to a tune? Mighty fine writing at 5:00 a.m. pardner.
October loves: apples, apple cider, apple crisp; marching bands (the true reason for a high school football game); fabulous colors of the trees, including the the late rusty oaks that last longer than the rest of the trees, standing under falling leaves when a wind gusts; cool temperatures, sunshine that is a different angle than summer sunshine, the clarity of the sunsets, harvest moons; planting tulip and daffodil bulbs, then putting the garden away for the winter.
Dale, maybe a song about the Honey Crisp apple will inspire some happy lyrics. It inspires a lot of happiness on my taste buds.
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I’ll second that! Let’s hear it for the Honey Crisp!
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I’ve thought many times that all of these verses lend themselves easily to simple three-chord cowboy or folk songs. I’ll give it a try but will not promise anything.
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Ann Reed could do it!
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Morning all..
I am also an October-lover. In addition to all the great things, I host a “Leaf Pile” every year in October. Several friends get together, go to a good park where the leaves haven’t been vacuumed up yet, gather a big pile and then jump in. And I mean BIG pile… some years big enough for 15-20 people. There is the requisite stuffing of leaves into each other’s clothing and if we have any little kids, we do some kid-tossing. Then we go back to my house and have a pot luck. Fabulous way to celebrate the month. This year is the 36th Annual!
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What a marvelous idea, Sherrilee – I can hear the kids squealing!
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Will we soon see posters warning us of the dangers and raking? Maybe I will volunteer to be a designated raker.
Careful out on the October trail, babooners!
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Yes, esp. of the poison oak and ivy, if hiking, they’re especially virulent this year I’ve heard…
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Greetings! There’s lots to love about October — my birthday is tomorrow! As a youngster in Green Bay, I loved watching football and eating tons of peanuts in the shell. Watching my high school football games outside and cheering on our small but talented team. Raking up leaf piles to jump in and rustle through. In late fall, the pears we grew were finally good to eat. Driving and looking around, trying to spot the most vibrant colored trees and look up at the blue sky through them, try to photograph the view and marvel at how colors in nature all look good together. Watching my mother can fruits and vegetables and trying to stay out of the way, being afraid of the loud heat of the canning kettle. Rooting through interesting old clothes trying to come up with a Halloween costume that resembled the image in my mind. Feeling grateful for cool, crisp air and leaves whirling in fragrant breezes. So much to love about October! I will probably be nodding my head in agreement at everyone else’s responses as well.
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Happy birthday tomorrow!
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now I have the “Happy Birthday to You” song from the LGMS in my head.
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Good morning and happy October,
Now it is October
Dale says don’t drink and rake and
Sherilee has a leaf party
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John Birge is getting into the spirit as well — just played Porky Pig singing about hunters surrounding him in the fall on the classical station. Very fun!
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Daffy Duck.
So RH is not working??
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Apparently not; that’s OK; significant parts of me don’t work anymore either. I’ll go back to John Birge and Daffy.
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I don’t think the speakers are set up on my computer yet for listening to RH.
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Mine has been in and out all day.
Have a good weekend.
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Yes, I really enjoy Minnesota summers, but October IS my favorite month out of the entire year. To begin, I met my wife, got engage, and married in October. (No – not in the same year – each a year apart.) Those memories alone are quite filling. Jacque, Sherrilee and Joanne have a great start on the list of favorites, although make mine a Haralson apple while walking in the grouse woods.
For over tens years, a couple good friends have gathered in northern MN each October to hunt. Each year we are asked to write and present an original piece of work. I wrote this poem to October just before the turn of the century. Although it doesn’t specifically name “October”, no other month would do.
Recipe for the Hunt
Often, our first taste was bestowed by father or brother
Most all of us have engorged at one time or another
A wonderfully satisfying dish, served on any platter.
To truly gratify the soul, we must create a special batter.
You may substitute with genuine ambition
But most people start with decades of tradition
For this ingredient has always been properly flavored
With sites, sounds, tastes, aromas that demand to be savored
Into this starter the tangibles our hands firmly kneed
Our favorite shotguns, boots and dogs of any hunting breed
Brush pants, chest waders, blazon vests and jackets in camo
No matter if it is lead or steel, be sure to add plenty of ammo
Now set the mixture aside packed tightly, usually a duffle
Add spices if you wish, a camera or cards to later shuffle
Don’t rush this succulent preparation, relish this portion of the fun
I often sample this dough, even days before the hunt has begun
As important as ingredients are to success, so to is the rise
So we begin to travel with friends old and new, to rhapsodize.
For Driving North to hunt, this banter it will only augment.
So enjoyable, yet it could seem to cure most any ailment
Ah, to deer, duck or grouse camp we have finally arrived
It is to this end we have so heavily invested and contrived.
Each seems to know their duties; cook, unpack and barkeep
The hunt begins to perfectly bake as we lay down to sleep.
Morning comes fast, we all gradually, yet eagerly awake
We dress for the day, gather our tackle, and prepare to partake
Whether it be a day in the forest or perhaps on the waterfront
Nothing will be as enduring, gratifying, and intoxicating as this hunt.
Time to start the camp fire so I’ll be ready to hear your stories tonight.
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Thanks Dan.
This has been re-posted in our poetry corner, Rhyme Wave.
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Nicely done, Dan! My son and friends would have hunting expeditions something like this.
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Oh dear, now I feel well and truly silly. I read the part about this poem being written before the turn of the century and knew you could not possibly be that old.
Then I realized which century turn you were refering to.
Pass me another Oktoberfest, someone? It’s surely after noon somewhere in the empire
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This morning just outside the building I work in, I saw a hawk (flying away, fortunately–crows and hawks aren’t exactly best buddies!), a skein of Canada geese and a pair of female wild turkeys. Autumn migrations, leaf drifts, sunlight changing to gold, root vegetables at the farmers’ market, the harvest festivals, and finally Hallows and the coming of winter. I don’t mind the focus on dying; to me, fall is the epitome of “mono no aware”.
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Me too, it all comes back. I just looked up mono no aware — nice.
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Me three. I hadn’t heard mono no aware before, but it is just what I was trying to describe today. Funny. On the same page is a link to Wabi Sabi, another phrase I learned this week.
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Shoot! I meant turkey buzzards.
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We have a pair of hawks that have been riding the thermals between buildings where I work. Usually we only see one at a time, but this week I have been seeing two together. Generically they are all “Bob the Hawk” (though one may be a “Bobette”). Beautiful, elegant creatures.
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“Riding the thermals” suggests another possibility: turkey vultures. They are dark all over and have blocky wings that end in a line of primaries that stretch out to claw the wind like fingers. The wings, in other words, are not pointed or hard edged. They often curl in lazy spirals, two birds together, corkscrewing their way across the sky.
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I was a devoted subscriber to Gourmet magazine, and the October issue was always real thick and full of wonderful recipes. We lost Gourmet last year as well as Dale on the air-2010, be over soon!
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Renee, I think that the Ocober issues of Gourmet magazine probably had lots of recipes for hot soups and stews which I think fit well with the brisk October weather. My favorite is potato/leek soup which makes use of recently harvested leeks. It is easy to make.
Chop up 1 1/2 cups of leeks and cook them in a little buter for a few minutes. Add 3 cups of broth, bring to a boil, and add 2 cups of cubed potatoes. When the potatoes are cooked, use a blender to make a smooth soup and add 1/2 cup of milk or cream. Serve warm with a dash of pepper.
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I’ll have to rustle up my pear kuchen recipe when I get a chance today. It’s great and would go well with potato soup. I love leek and potato soup.
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I just made this recipe last night… I adapted it (made it vegetarian) from Rachael Ray Magazine. It is FABULOUS!
Franks & Beans Soup
Ingredients:
• Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
• 6 pieces vegetarian sausages, halved lengthwise, then crosswise
• 3 small ribs celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 large bay leaf
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika or sweet smoked paprika (about 1/2 palmful)
• One 12-ounce bottle hard cider
• One 28- to 32-ounce can vegetarian baked beans
• One 32-ounce container (4 cups) vegetable stock stock
• Spicy mustard (in a squeeze bottle), for garnish
• 1 large deli pickle, chopped
• Pumpernickel bread and butter, to pass around the table
Directions:
In a dutch oven, heat a drizzle of EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the sausage pieces in 2 batches and cook, turning once, until browned and crisped. Reserve the sausages. Add a drizzle more EVOO to the pan, then add all but 1/4 cup onion, the celery, carrot and bay leaf; season with salt, pepper and the paprika. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the cidar and cook until reduced by half. Add the baked beans and stock, bring to a bubble and slide the sausages back into the stoup to heat through. Serve in shallow bowls and top with a swirl of mustard, the reserved 1/4 cup onion and the pickle. Serve with the bread and butter.
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There is a piece by Eric Whitacre, written for concert band, called October. We played it in high school and it was (and still is) one of my favorite pieces of music ever. (It’s easily found on YouTube). It’s easy to imagine watching the sun come up over a colorful forest…or setting, as I saw last night on my drive into town. I love fall 🙂 Another song that reminds me of October is Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Seans. In elementary school, our music teacher showed us a cartoon that was set to the music. At the beginning is shows an empty graveyard, with the clock striking 12 midnight. As the sun sets, the music picks up. Soon, there are skeletons coming out of the graves and they start dancing. Death is playing his fiddle for them to dance. They’re dancing and moving around, then at the end of the song, the rooster crows and all of the skeletons go back under ground to wait another year. There was nothing scary about it, but every time I hear that piece, I think of that video. It fit so well with the music. Thank you Mrs. Coulter!
I believe that October is my favorite month. The leaves, the smells, the coolness of the weather…mmmm. I love it 🙂
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Oh, and hockey season starts 😀
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You probably would not know, Alanna, what the coming of fall sports means to Minnesotans. There is joy in seeing the Vikings taking to the field again. And then there is the horror of another season of football from our Gophers.
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Ah, but you forget, I’m originally from Minnesota. I had 18 years of falls there. I never liked the Vikings though, so it made it hard to watch football. I’m a Lions fan through and through 🙂 And I still watch Gopher football, even up here (Thank you Big 10 network!). I am shocked and dismayed nearly every game 😦
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The hockey fans were out in force last night in St. Paul. As much as I’d like to say I like them, they are often in my way (and not always pleasantly so) when I’m trying to get to and from the opera…I’m sure they’re lovely folks, but can’t the Wild time their games better to not end at the same time I’m trying to leave the Ordway? (Selfish, I know.)
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As the token Goth of the group, I approve of your music teacher’s taste. I’ll have to look up that cartoon on YouTube once I’m home and away from the workplace net nanny. Hmmm, now I’m in the mood for the last part of Fantasia…
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And that dance of the mushrooms with the little one that is madly whirling around trying ineffectively to get in synch with the big ones! 🙂
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…mushrooms in which one, Steve? memory is failing.
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I think it’s from Fantasia. Go to YouTube and enter Fantasia. The mushrooms are in one of the boxes on the right-hand side. Funny!
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The mushrooms are in the Nutcracker part, doing the Chinese Tea dance. very cute.
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October makes me get outside more — the intense heat is gone, there are yard and garden chores that must get done. Looking up at the sky and seeing gold and blue in stead of green and blue. The white throated sparrows are back for a few weeks. We go for drives along the river somewhere (Taylor’s Falls maybe, since 169 if iffy). Will take the back roads down to my mom’s in Iowa so she too can get out and see it all. It feels good to heat up the kitchen with baking and processing the rest of the garden.
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And my purple asters (the ones up close to the house so they don’t get as much sun) are finally out.
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I have purple asters next to my house too, Barbara! 🙂
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Morning–
I like fall… gathering in the harvest, see the results of the years work… sort of completing the cycle so to speak.
My parents wedding anniversary is October 27th. And so is my Brother and his wife. So the four of them go out to celebrate. Sixty two years for my folks; maybe 30 some for my brother?
But we’ve also lost two close relatives in October and that’s always hard on my wife… there we go again; completing that cycle.
Beautiful day out there! Enjoy!
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I still find lots to enjoy in October even without Gourmet and Dale on the air. We are having a really lovely October, and since we had so much rain this summer the leaves are more vivid as they change colors. I am cheering on two dahlias that haven’t bloomed yet but are developing buds. It was too cool all summer for them to bloom earlier. We don’t have any killing frosts in the weather for the foreseeable future, so I am keeping my fingers crossed they’ll bloom. Husband got a meat grinder/sausage stuffer attachment for the mixer, so he is excited about making sausage. October is a great month.
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I spoke too soon. We have a frost warning for tonight, so I guess I’ll be covering dahlias when I get home from work.
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Postseason baseball.
Baked squash with some butter & brown sugar.
Taking the air conditioners out of the windows, putting glass back in the storm doors.
The suspense of daily watching the weather forecast for frost.
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Yes, gonna have some squash tonight. And I don’t plan anything now without checking the weather page.
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It is the most fundamental cliche that October is the peak month of the harvest, a time of bounty that is poignant because it precedes death and coldness, a precious moment when all of nature seems to rage, rage, rage against the dying of the light.
When grouse hunting many years ago I sat on a hill overlooking a jewel of a little forest lake. The aspens and maples and birches trobbed with saturated color as if the trees knew this would be the last day of bright sun, a Kodachrome moment all the more precious because it would be followed by a long black and white season. I took a grouse from my game bag, still warm and spicy smelling, and admired it while I reflected on the the paradox of killing something I loved so much. And then I thought about how short life is, a spurt of light between two eternities of darkness, and I would have gotten in a mood except my old dog butted me with her head to say she was fed up with sloth and philosophy and wasn’t it time, dammit, to be doing what we came here to do.
She was right. There is no way to understand an October afternoon or the seasons of life. The best we can do is to revere them while walking with boots that swish like a drummer’s wire brushes in the carpet of gold leaves.
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Beautifully said, Steve. Sniff…
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I like October too. The clean, clear blue sky, the quality of golden light, the brilliant diamonds of dew in the sparkling mornings, the leaves changing like a kaleidoscope all around. I love hiking in the cool fresh air and having to wear a big sweatshirt. I love watching bird migrations and imagining how far each bird will travel. Amphibians are out sunning themselves too; I enjoy thinking about where they’ll hibernate and the chemical changes that take place in their bodies as the weather cools.
I love bonfires. My lifelong favorite thing to do is to play music around a bonfire with my friends and a bottle of good wine (or a good Oktoberfest bier – whichever is handy!)
More than anything, October makes me think about change and all the opportunities that transitions bring. Death is necessary in the cycle of life. I think some other traditions handle this reality much better than ours.
Oh, if you feel like a road trip tomorrow, Morgan Creek Vineyards near Cambria will have their annual Grape Stomp. Lots of fun – teams of stompers in costumes, a lovely rural setting with a red barn, an earth-bermed winery, a lovely vineyard and Morgan Creek gurgling past. The award-winning wine is produced on site. I like “Redtail Ridge.”
Enjoy the season, Babooners!
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Dale, it looks like Jim came up with lines that qualify for a poem. Don’t forget to add them to Rhyme Wave.
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All that has been said about October is what I think of: the crisp air, the smell of dry leaves (and jumping in said leaves, though in a smaller pile than Sherrilee and crew gather), rolling down hills, crisp apples, pumpkins, mums on the steps, kids in Halloween costumes. I’m a fan. Even the anticipation of the first snow is kind of exciting.
Thinking on this year’s October (so I can pretend this is on topic) – for those that I had email addresses for, I have sent out the location info for this month’s/quarter’s Blevins Book Club meeting on Sunday. If you did not get it, and want to join us, shoot me a note (akb_at_pobox.com) and I will forward along the info.
Happy Friday all!
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I have to agree with BiR about fall weather encouraging me to spend more time outside. Summer is just to bright, hot, sitcky and buggy for my taste.
Love all the October foods you have all been talking about too, and especially the fact that turning on the oven once again seems like a really good idea.
Salad is all very fine and good, but warm gingerbread and mulled cider are like edible well-being to me.
Best of all, it is time to get out all the wool again! Wool sweaters, socks and the revered trade blanket my parents got as a wedding gift but my mother never used as it was “too scratchy”. Never notice it with the flannel sheets on the bed. Time to get those out too.
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will read Charlotte’s web again soon – in prep for our local book club. makes me think of October and this morning as i was milking Alba, a little spider crawling ever so slowly over my sweatshirt sleeve. must have come from the hay bale while i was poking thru it looking for a good leaf. don’t know what happened to the poor thing, because i didn’t want to stop milking and by the time i finished i had forgotten it. but as we know, it will die soon anyway.
going to the “Free Range” barn tonight for the Manhattan Shorts Film Festival. kind of neat to think that we will watch the 10 finalist films, along with 202 other venues on six continents, and vote for the one we like the best. check it out at:
http://www.freerangefilm.com
bring a blanket to wrap in and one to sit on 🙂
happy weekend and happy October
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Barb, this looks wonderful — enjoy!
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Nice poem, Dale. To misquote John Prine from earlier by JASPER “Some [months]you write the songs, and some [months] the song writes you.”
I think you are gone so, lost track. But do enjoy your time off.
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This is a wonderful dessert. It has no health benefits, but it won’t clog up your arteries as long as you have been raking leaves.
Pear Kuchen
Crust
1 1/4 c. unbleached flour
1/2 c. butter cut into 6 pieces
3T. whipping cream
3T. brown sugar
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t/ salt
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375. Butter a 9 inch round tart pan (1.5 to 2 inches deep) with removable bottom. Combine flour, butter, cream, 1T brown sugar, spices, and salt to that it resembles a coarse meal. Transfer 1/2 cup of mixture to a small bowl. Add to it the remaining 2T of brown sugar and set aside. Press remainder of mixture in to the bottom and up the sides 1 inch of the buttered pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350.
Filling
3 large firm pears-about 1 1/2 lbs- peeled, cored, bottoms cut flat, halved lengthwise.
3/4 c. of granulated sugar
1/3 c. whipping cream
1/4 c. unbleached flour
1 t. fresh lemon juice
1 t. vanilla
3 egg yolks
Combine sugar, cream, flour, yolks, lemon juice, and vanilla. Pour custard into crust. arrange sliced pears atop the crust. Sprinkle on set-aside crust mixture. Bake until custard is set-about 40-50 minutes.Let kuchen stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before removing sides of pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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yum yum
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That looks really good!
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I think Dale’s song is a wonderful addition to the classic country canon. Maybe I will write the melody and sing it with String Fever Bluegrass Band. Or maybe I won’t get around to it. In any case…. Sober in October is a great hook. Go Dale.
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