A crack of thunder just sounded outside my window. Rain is steadily falling and leaves are tumbling down to the earth almost as fast as the rain. It feels like
The Turning
of the season.
I’ve been celebrating the unusually warm fall and the feeling of summer warmth lingering in the air. But today, it feels different to me — like fall is saying, I’m here and I’m staying. And it feels like winter is waiting breathlessly in the wings ready to leap to center stage before I’m ready for it.
The leaves as they spark into wild color just before they die are the world’s oldest performance art, and everything we see is celebrating one last violently hued hurrah before the black and white silence of winter.
– Shauna Niequist
Still, everywhere I look I see beauty. And October’s vivid colors have not yet disappeared. How would I feel about these bright oranges, russets, and yellows if they were what I see most of the year? Perhaps I would be ready for bare branches and snow covered ground. But now I immerse myself in the colors, feasting on their transitory beauty, inhaling the scent of fall, celebrating the turning. Yes, winter will come but it’s not here yet.
The view from my office window a short while ago
October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!
– Rainbow Rowell
What else can I do but celebrate this moment? Will it change anything to become sad and angry about the turning of the seasons? No. So I celebrate with joy and gratitude.
Acceptance of each moment is a practice that can bring peace even in challenging times. I love spring, summer, and fall but not winter or at least not most of the time. Still, I savor these moments, even the cloudy skies and rain that is falling outside my window.
Life is good. Savor it.
Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.
– Siobhan Vivian
May you walk in beauty.
View of the pond behind our house early this afternoon
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