I'm strolling around my church, collecting leaves and enjoying the pleasant, nippy weather. The sky is clear and the sun is out. I'm soaking up all the rays that I can, knowing winter is on its way.

Coral Blake is a nurse, mother and writer who lives in Green Township, Beaver County (live2laughagain@yahoo.com).

I feel the Earth hunkering down for winter, the sap pulling down deeply into roots, burying its vital blood where the freezing weather cannot crystallize it. The ground has a thick blanket of leaves, drawn up along hedge rows like the Earth's chin. The birds are flying in formation and heading south, having practiced again and again until the warning black frost came last night. "It is time," they call as they head for warmer winds.

The downy feathers on the Canada geese are thick; they remain here, near an industrial park, where billows of warm steam fill the sky with white cotton candy clouds year-round. Every year the geese raise goslings, and now the yearlings are full grown and fit right into the flock. They huddle together and are less active in the winter months, loyal to each other in the bitter cold, sharing heat and comfort.

The little critters are hustling about gathering last-minute provisions. The squirrels and chipmunks gather acorns and chestnuts and seeds too many to count. You have to be quick picking nuts and berries in this countryside because the birds and small animals are fast workers, and they don't like to share!

The deer are a bit more active this time of year. The harvest is pretty well past. The cornfields are barren, only scraps left for the taking, and the hay is bailed and sent off to the dairy and beef farms. The fawns have lost their spots and look like dainty does, even the young bucks, but the full-grown bucks have begun showing their antlers again, and, though rarely seen, they stand tall and proud, fearless, even when crossing our paths.

Today as I walked I noticed the beautiful muted graying of the forest. It looks soft from a distance, not like bark or wood, and it covers the mountainsides from this ridge to the next and beyond. Nestled among the barren trees are a few rare holdouts, dotting the hillside, trees covered in deep, rich autumn color standing out among the others, making the hillside look like a downy quilt. The evergreens send their pinecones falling. The "helicopter" seeds flutter and spin on the wind. The thistles burst open as they dry and a miraculously large number of soft fluffy seeds emerge from the prickly casing, a gentle breeze sending them floating up like tiny parachuting men looking for a place to land.

Our cat begins putting on weight this time of year and cuddles closer to the home front, her beautiful calico coat full and warm. She is more attentive to her family and comes begging for a pet and a kind word more often.

All around me seem to be settling into a peaceful napping season; wintertime is around the bend. The Earth yawns and moans when the wind blows through the bare trees, and there is less noise now that the insects have completed their summer tasks and quieted down. The lady bugs hide in the eves of my house and the church next door; they will re-emerge in the spring. And at night there is no longer that mesmerizing chorus of crickets and cicadas.

I feel it, too ... the desire to pull in closer to family and cozy up to the home fire and share stories of wintertimes of long ago, drinking hot cocoa, spiced and topped with Cool Whip, my kids begging me to make more, their chocolate smiles saying "thank you" as they hum to themselves like new kittens purring. I miss my kids cuddling up on the couch all together and listening to a good story. And I miss the nightgowns and pigtails and silly laughter of little girls in my home. But fall brings it back into view, my heart feeling it and my mind seeing it as if it were yesterday. I am purring, too!

I am daydreaming of the happy family times that are sure to be on the way; the holidays just ahead! I know I will have new memories of our home filled with loving conversation; each of us sharing accounts of the last year spent, joyous and melancholy. Laughter and talk of future plans -- plans that include many times together.

Wonderful times behind and ahead fill my heart with memory and hope, with past achievements and future dreams. It is autumn and my cornucopia of blessings is filled to overflowing. No past trials can compare to the good things I have been given. I am awe-struck and thankful.

I love this time of year.