When Autumn Leaves

by Amy S. Foster

This is another book about magic. Similar to Practical Magic, Garden Spells, and The Girl who Chased the Moon. All have quirky towns full of magic that is basically just acknowledged by the other residents. All have special women that seem to be blessed with the power of magic.

In this story, Autumn must choose a replacement for herself in the magical town of Avenings. She has been told that she is needed elsewhere. She decides to hold an essay contest. In the process, she narrows the search to 13 women.

Quotes I Liked:

"There are magical things we take for granted every day- our friends, our family, and most of all, ourselves!"

"Avening is a haven and a refuge from so many of the troubles that seem to circle and plague other small towns. " (Wish my small town was a haven. Instead it is a broiling, seething, place of gossip and ill will.)

"We are magical, but we are also human. We need the change. It keeps us vibrant, helps us grow, and make us better. You need the change too. You have another chapter in your life to begin. A new prospective. It's time!)

"Even if you were acquainted with the woman, more likely than not, you would still fail to see her. Invisibility was her own special magic. When she was younger, she used to believe that her invisibility was a metaphor for something else, something wrong with her- her awkwardness, her fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. She had thought as she grew older, more confident, wiser, she would be able to outgrow this not being noticed. But really, she still felt like a ghost. She would be in a place but not really there. People looked through her, past her. Her invisibility had taken on a life of its own. It wasn't a metaphor anymore, or a defense mechanism, or an eccentric little tic. It had taken on a life of its own. She was actually invisible. At least that's how it felt to her." (Reminds me of how my mom and dad call us all the invisible people. People only notice us when they want something.)

"She recognized the invisibility wrapped around the other woman's uncontrollable curves. But unlike her, the other woman fought it with everything she had. She tried too hard. She invited herself brazenly to be included."

"Visualize. I'm a green and yellow duck. A mallard. Everything you say will run off my little feathered body. "

"How could she have known how much the town would take of her character. How much her staying, the town would take as a sacrifice. The years and times now revealed the gap in her personality. The town took the part that used to make others gravitate towards her. Out of fascination, of fear, or of awe others had been drawn to her. But now she forgot the rules of being social, so she blundered along, trying to be bigger in life, in the hopes that she would not miss herself. " (Isn't that something I could have written? Now if I could only redirect or better yet, express, all the hidden anger I have at this town and those who have wronged me so much, over and over.)

"The spell, the lightening, had pulled her together. She had been a puzzle. Pieces scattered everywhere. Drinking from the bottle had made each piece fit. It had kicked, and punched, and fused them into place. Deep down this fierce woman had always existed, but had been hidden and smothered out of duty and sacrifice. No Longer!"

"She felt calm, so unlike the anger she had felt towards herself in the last few weeks. Why had she had so much contempt for herself and her life? She drew her arms around herself as a gesture of forgiveness. Everything she had done. All the choices she had made. They all led to this exact moment. She was just where she was supposed to be. She had the ability to see through her past and pain to recognize that there was so much more to her, so much more for her, than she had allowed herself to believe. In that split second she felt happiness. Then she let it go. Let it back out into the universe where every other perfect moment lives, stretched out across the stars, hovering just there."

"She had loved her parents, her husband, her friends, but that love had come from the outside had been delivered to her from someplace else. The love she felt for her baby welled up from the very same place her daughter had begun in. It was organic, running through every cell, every tissue, every single pore of her being. It began inside and she kept it close."

"She had learned that motherhood was the greatest love affair of all. Romantic love paled in comparison. "

Calendar of Pagen Holidays
Winter Solstice Dec. 21
Imbolc Feb. 2
Spring Equinox March 21
Beltane May 1
Summer Solstice June 21
Lunghasadh Aug. 1
Fall Equinox Sept. 21
Samhain Oct. 31