How do you mark the change of seasons?

Is it labor day or the first day of school? Is it when the first leaf falls or the last? Is it the first frost or the first time you see your breath?

For me, it is the first time I look out my window and don’t see a humming bird.

I know the day is near when whatever calls them will. Some have already answered that call. I’m filling my feeders only half full now and I don’t see the “swarms” that I saw even a week ago. It must be a perilous journey for these tiny creatures. Some travel all the way to Mexico to spend the winter.

I know some think me silly, but I get a lot of pleasure and contentment from watching and caring for “my” humming birds. I will miss them but there is comfort in knowing I don’t have to say “goodbye” just “see you next year”.