09.22.16

There was Summer on one side, and then, at 8:21 a.m., there was Autumn on the other.  Just like that…summer is officially over.  When we left Colorado a few days ago,  it was 90 degrees down there…but, we made it home, just in time.  We dropped our bags in the entry and went to sit down by the lake for sunset.  The boats are gone and the water was a mirror and all I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears.  Home.

After only a week away,  many more trees are now golden.  There was bear scat on the road, next to the neighbor’s pear and apple trees, and  a herd of deer were sleeping in the Brown’s meadow as we drove down to our house.  The kitchen window box is still in glorious red and pink bloom and the geraniums on the porch are stuck in high summer.  The grass has never looked more lush and green.

But, right on schedule, there has been a changeover in the weather.  The rain started in the night and as I sit here in the morning’s dark, I can hear the waves pounding the shore.  I lit a white candle in a white votive, in keeping with the Chinese tradition of honoring the color white on the Autumn Equinox.  My favorite season has begun!  There is much to do in the weeks ahead to prepare for winter, but there is so much to look forward to–all those jeweled colors, and the earthy scent of wet earth, the rhythm of the rain, the cold wind on my cheeks, wood smoke in the air.  This is a beautiful season to live in…

“Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”

–Elizabeth Lawrence