Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Scent of Autumn

                   

 

Yesterday afternoon a light rain awakened a new scent.

An Autumn breeze rushed through the open window.

A hunk of Roquefort waited on a baguette, next to it a

Half peeled clementine and a cracked pomegranate gathered on a terra cotta plate.

A glass of red wine that hinted of blackberries wet my mouth.

Sitting on the kitchen chair I pulled my sweater down over my knees forming a cocoon,

dreaming of roasting chestnuts in an iron skillet.

I watched the leaves as they gave a graceful free fall dance.

The season's aroma are awakening an appetit in me.

Photo: A small detail of a 17th century tapestry, in Chateau de Chenonceau. What are some of your favorite Autumn scents?

Comments

18 responses to “The Scent of Autumn”

  1. g

    this is beautiful…fall is not my favorite season although my birthday is fast approaching-I am saddened by the shorter days the shadows the chill-I do see and give praise for the true beauty of the season just not my favorite…..

    Reply
  2. martina

    Acorn squash baking in the oven, with a dollop of butter and some brown sugar!

    Reply
  3. Jenny M

    Love Autumn…my favourite season. I can’t pick out any particular scent….for me it’s the crisp mornings, warm days, and cooler evenings, after a very long hot, hot Summer. And watching the leaves change their outfit from green to golden yellows, red and bursts of orange.

    Reply
  4. Maria

    Thank you so much for the love ly word picture for autumn. I had a terrible day so this was a nice note to end on. (Except now I want roasted chestnuts.:)

    Reply
  5. Diogenes

    Beautifully written, Corey. As for fall: cool, crisp days anywhere in the northeast, NY, PA, ME, where the trees are turning colors with the scent of fireplaces going.

    Reply
  6. Marilyn

    The crisp air as I step outside
    of falling leaves and apple past their
    prime.

    Reply
  7. LeighNZ

    Thank you Corey for the lovely experience, your words had me right there with you.
    Autumn is my favourite season, I love the cool mornings that become stunning warm days with perfect clear blue skies and the colours of the trees. Perfect weather for photographic road trips, however we are currently enjoying Spring.

    Reply
  8. Mardog

    Wet earth
    Diesel from the tractors hauling the grapes to the winery
    Picking last night under a full moon with the amazing lunar eclipse (sight not smell)

    Reply
  9. jeannine

    a fire in a fireplace, tobacco smoke in a pipe, fresh wet leaves, pumpkin pie, linens dried outdoors on a crisp day, sweaters pulled out from the cedar chest the first time of the season….

    Reply
  10. Shelley Noble

    Such a sensual poem, Corey. Lovely.

    Reply
  11. Jan Wasmann

    Corey, your words and pictures, smells and tastes that they bring to life are the finest poetry.

    Reply
  12. Judi

    My favorite season, even in Southern California. Maybe it’s all that ORANGE and Red and Rust! My favorite colors.
    Your words, Corey, are pure poetry. You bring such a peace and joy to my life.

    Reply
  13. Chico Sue

    Wood smoke.

    Reply
  14. Peggy Braswell

    soup(any one) cooking on the stove + wood burning in the fireplace + just a few of my favorite fall smells. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

    Reply
  15. monika

    The intermingled scents of boxwood, fallen leaves and damp earth, with the faint whispers of a wood being burned in a hearth, and the evening mist settling into a stand of pines.
    This to me is the almost primeval scent of autumn in Geneva, and the Juras in Vaud.
    Do you have favourite scents that you wear in autumn Corey? I’m a perfume lover, and so have scents for different moods and seasons. My autumn repertoire though, is a bit thin. Something with the comfort of beeswax and the weird mystery of boxwood, and perhaps some apricot or fig…

    Reply
  16. tammyCA

    Cinnamon! That’s the scent I associate with Autumn & I love it. We don’t have the change of seasons here and blast this awful heat, yep, we got down a few degrees but the triple digits are coming back this weekend..argh! I grew up with the seasons so I miss them, especially Autumn & Spring with the wonderful scents. Autumn time we always burned leaves (ha, back in the olden days when it wasn’t illegal) so that scent I miss. So, yeah I’m baking pumpkin spice muffins with the air-conditioner on high.

    Reply
  17. Joan

    I have a childhood smell memory that came from the long arbor of Concord grapes lining the dirt drive up to my house. On a warm fall day with the leaves turning on the huge maple and my father’s pear and apple trees that delicious smell reminded me of the grape jelly we would help my mother make and then eat all winter on our school lunchbox sandwiches. My fall smell now is burnt sugar/cotton candy from the dying Katsura leaves on my 4 trees along the front walk. Being in a different climate than childhood there are not so many wonderful colors but the colder breeze and wind is welcome after the heat of summer. Too bad I have to rake up those leaves which, plus my Norway maple, equal 90 paper yard waste bags… Otherwise Fall would be perfect!

    Reply
  18. Patti L

    Autumn is my favorite too..nightfall coming early, pumpkins nesting on porches, oak leaves and cracked acorns along the trail where I ride my bike, cinnamon and pecan flavors showing up in coffee shop lattes. Remembrances of pumkin and mincemeat pies and my grandmother’s filled fig and pear cookies. Cozy, snuggly, deep autumn.

    Reply

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