Fall Festival in Sylvania

Fall Festival Parade, Sylvania, 16 October 2011, and below, family enjoying Fall together: Elissa & Alli with Chase, the newest center of our universe; Elissa, Philip, Alli & me with Chase; Elissa, me, Tony & Alli holding Chase.

Last year it was Pokrova, the harvest festival in Ukraine. The university put on a show of traditional music, dancing and costumes, and offered an array of traditional Ukrainian food. Delightful and delicious! It was a blue-sky day and the yellow leaves of the white birch trees glistened in the sun. It was as if the world were covered in gold.

This year it’s the Fall Festival in Sylvania. We had perfect fall weather last week, and the foliage was lovely, but this day it is cold, grey and rainy. Elissa brought over two of my favorite boys, Josh and Philip, all bundled up, which warmed our spirits. I got out the drinks and cookies, and the boys went for the toys. We watched the parade down Main Street from our front porch, too. Front row seats!

We didn’t have these kinds of fall festivals in Florida, but Halloween was big, very big, in

my historic Old Northeast neighborhood and around downtown St. Petersburg. The grand houses and bungalows were beautifully decorated, as elaborately as Christmas decorations, and neighbors gathered on front lawns. The weather was warm and balmy, sea breezes floating over the Bay under a glorious full harvest moon. It was one of the best times of year to walk around the neighborhood and bask in its beauty.

The autums of our lives are filled with wonder, no matter where we live, no matter what our age.

Here in Sylvania, it means harvest time, harvest moons, colorful trees and fire bushes, apples and pumpkins, bright chyrsanthymums, shorter days. For this Fall festival, it’s a time to gather--a front- porch kind of day. This is Main Street America at its finest, and we are blessed.