[Baltimore Sun] Dayhoff: Fall in love with Fall
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This year, the first day of fall, the autumnal equinox, began on Sept. 22, at exactly 8:43 a.m. Equinox is the Latin word for “equal night.” That is when the sun is aligned with the equator, making days and nights equal in length. For the next six months, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will get less sunlight and the weather will get colder. Ugh – mark your calendars for the first day of spring in 2025 – the vernal equinox begins at exactly 5:01 a.m. on March 20.
The other two meteorological occurrences that occur every year are the winter solstice in December when the sun’s most direct rays are positioned over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south latitude; and the June – summer solstice when the most direct rays of sunlight are in alignment with the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north latitude.
This picturesque wood and steel bridge spans a wetland tributary to Cobb’s Branch on the 2.1 mile paved Wakefield Valley Community Trail that extends from Long Valley Road to Uniontown Road in Westminster. (Kevin Dayhoff/Courtesy)
Interestingly, the Earth’s orbit around the sun is not perfectly circular; it is elliptical. So, paradoxically during the Northern Hemisphere winter, the sun is closer to the Earth in January, known as the perihelion, and farthest from the sun in July, aphelion, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
Fall is the one season known by two different names. Beginning around the 17th century, the English began to refer to this time of the year as autumn, from the French word, “automne,” which finds its origins in the Latin word, “automnus.” It is believed that the word first started to appear in the 1300s. According to several media sources, both Chaucer and Shakespeare used the word autumn.
The first recorded use of the word fall, the third season of the year, comes around the 1500s. It is assumed that the origin of the word is a reference to the time of the year when deciduous trees are allowed to act-out and show some additional passion with a dazzling wardrobe of color and then have their leaves fall to the ground.
Many of the trees along Willis Street in Westminster are particularly brilliant this time of the year. According to an article in Westminster Patch by Deb Belt, “the leaves in Maryland should be popping Oct. 14, and peak that week in the western counties, while the rest of the state should see peak colors Oct. 21. The southern tip of the Eastern Shore will peak Oct. 28…” (Kevin Dayhoff/Courtesy)
Trees have that brilliant wardrobe of colors hidden all through spring and summer. While it is widely believed that the cooler weather causes all those beautiful shades of red, yellow, purple, and brown to come out, the temperature is only ingredient in the complex opera of events the great painter in the sky uses to color the leaves.
To be certain, colder weather or frost plays a role in the intensity of the colors, but the main factor is the length of day. Trees and the food manufacturing process of leaves are very sensitive to the amount of light they receive and as the days get shorter a whole cascade of chemical and hormonal events begin.
Trees stop growing around June. At that time, they set next year’s leaf buds and begin planning for the spring. The rest of the summer, trees stay busy manufacturing and storing food, in the form of complex sugars, called carbohydrates to support next year’s growth.
I was approached about writing about the fall foliage in Carroll County and whether this was the fall season or autumn, at dinner the other night at “The Liquid Library” at 84 E. Main St. in Westminster. I was asked about when fall began, and the word equinox. I must admit, to write this article I found myself looking up some old notes from a botany class at Towson State University ages ago. I am a retired horticulturist who farmed nursery stock and trees for a living; and trees remain one of my favorite subjects. So, portions of this discussion have been published before in the Baltimore Sun. This discussion is back by popular demand.
To celebrate our fall date night, my wife, Caroline Babylon, and I had the veggie wood-fired pizza, and the wood oven-baked eggplant rollatini at Liquid Library. Our dinner was great. We saw lots of friends and neighbors.
Programming note: Last week, I wrote about the Carroll County Women’s March that took place Oct. 20. The event was well-attended, featured many information booths, and local speakers including “Find Your Purpose” promotor Billy Lyve, entertainer and technology executive Janae Henson, attorney Stacy Shaffer, Djeff Ikambana, president of McDaniel’s philosophy club “Socratic Spirits,” (and me.) The event was organized by the hard work of folks such as Dr. Pam Zappardino, Jessica Murray, Julia Ford Mount, and Cheryl Steinbacher. Information booths included Bob Lord, Allison Rudolf King with Rudolf Girls, and the League of Women Voters.
The Wakefield Valley Community Trail in Westminster is arguably one of the best places to enjoy fall in Carroll County. (Kevin Dayhoff/Courtesy)
However, I owe a debt of thanks to the several sharp-eyed readers who spotted in my article last week that I mistakenly identified Dr. Rose Mince as the first woman president of Carroll Community College. Thank you. What a silly mistake. Mince is the second female president of Carroll Community College. After all, I had just written an article on Sept. 1, 2024, about Dr. Faye Pappalardo – the first president of the college, who started her career at Carroll on August 25, 1988, as Director of Student Services. According to the third president of the college, Dr. James D. Ball, “Upon the retirement of Dr. Joseph Shields in 1999, Pappalardo was appointed as the second president of the college. After completing a 15-year tenure she retired in 2014 at the age of 83…”
Think spring.
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. His Time Flies column appears every Sunday. Email him at kevindayhoff@gmail.com.
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