I hope you are as gleeful as I am when you happen upon a new word. I love finding new words to enrich my vocabulary and which provide a fresh way to say something. Try to remember the last time you learned a new word.

The other day I was reading an essay by the English poet Malcolm Guite. The title of his essay is “Septembral.” I was disappointed when I looked in the dictionary and the only definition provided was: “an adjective – characteristic of September.” What? Isn’t there an unwritten rule that you should never define a word using the word? As hard as I tried, I could find no other definition.

The month of September has a certain feel. There are particular smells, tastes, and sights that can only be experienced in September. Some days have hints of fall in the air and after the hot, humid days of summer—I am ready for cooler weather. Leaves begin to turn bright colors and fall to the ground.

Spider Lilies

This year, for the first time, I have red spider lilies in my flower garden. They are bulbs which bloom in late summer or fall. Several years ago my sister and brother-in-law were dividing a group and gave me some. They are absolutely one of my favorite flowers. I remember the first time I saw them—fall of 1979 in Greensboro, Alabama growing (what appeared to be randomly) next to an old house.

Muscadines

Malcolm Guite in his essay, wrote that both Hilaire Belloc and Francois Rabelais use the word to praise the Septembral juice—wine. Guite says the real Septembral juice in England is cider—from luscious apples. 

That made me recall how I love muscadines which ripen from early August into September. Every year, I eagerly await their arrival at the local grocery store. Muscadines are indigenous to Alabama and were first discovered in North Carolina in 1524 by Italian explorer Giovanni de Varrazano. There were wild muscadines growing near our house when I was a child. I remember the first time I spotted a few on the ground. I picked them up and asked my mother what they were. She told me and said I could eat them. I put the sumptuous, purple grape in my mouth and felt it explode with tangy sweetness. Even though I had never seen or tasted wine, the juicy, over-ripe muscadines is how I imagined wine would taste. Mother said that some wine is made from muscadines. I promised myself at that moment, one day I would try muscadine wine.

Autumn will begin in a few days here in the Northern Hemisphere. This year the autumnal equinox arrives on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 8:04 PM Central Standard Time. If you recall my blog from last year, fall is not my favorite season. However, I do appreciate the change of seasons that remind me of the cyclical nature of life. Also, in that blog is my list of Top Ten Songs of Fall.

This year I begin autumn with a new-found word, bright spider lilies in my yard, and the taste of muscadines.

When I asked my husband if he knew the definition of Septembral, he responded with “. . . when the green begins to fade.”