Today I gathered up my belongings and, while it was still dark, walked the three blocks to the train station, dragging my two suitcases behind me. The larger one has my teaching supplies. The smaller – more teaching supplies and clothes.
This morning I was on the train from Ashland to NYC, now I’m on the second leg of my journey, from NYC to Albany. This train ride remains one of my favorites. I’d rank it up there with the train ride Michael and I took going across the Rocky mountains. For anyone who has ever taken the Empire Builder, they know that heading north, you get seats to the left of the train. Heading south, you get seats to the right. Why? Because of the views over the Hudson.
Each time I take the train it’s different. Today there are dramatic clouds – shades of dark and light grey, with occasional glimpses of blue. The river is the color of Buckingham Slate – dark and reflective. River grasses billow in the breeze, their heavy heads full of seed. An dominating everything is the color of the trees: the bright orangey red of sugar maple, the yellows of beech, the reddish browns of oak, and the occasional bright flash of red dogwood and butter yellow willow.
My heart sings with the colors of fall.
It seems like Rhinebeck is the culmination of a knitting year: the time when we get to show off a year’s worth of the fruits of our labor. I have to admit I’m thinking the weather is going to be perfect… a little on the cold side on Sunday, but that’s what wearing your knitwear is for.
