Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Autumns of our Lives

I've always heard the "old timers" say that a lot of berries on the trees and shrubs mean a hard winter is ahead. If that's the case we have a cold one coming! I'm personally not a fan of very cold weather, I freeze, but there are some aspects of winter that I love. Sitting in front of the gas logs and looking at the incoming seed and garden catalogs is one of my all time favorite things to do. It's the time when you can dream of a perfectly weed free vegetable garden with rows and rows of heavily laden vines of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and whatever else your imagination plants. But we're not quite at the point of gas logs. Right now it's a damp cold that's causing the leaves to turn color quickly and fall overnight. Our adopted Honey Girl loves this weather and you can hear the leaves crunching as she chases squirrels and chipmunks. All the fosters seem to enjoy the break in the heat, we had a terribly hot summer. The chrysanthemums are loaded down with blooms and the dogwood trees have more berries than I ever remember. Soon the cedar waxwings will be flocking and devouring every red berry they see. I love their Lone Ranger masks and exotic looks as they strip the color from the trees.
So Thanksgiving just around the corner and the thought of Christmas right after that brings a moment of reflection--
a lull in the hectic pace that my life seems to have taken on. A time for thought about next year and what I want to change and what I want to accomplish. I think I plan more resolutions this time of year than New Year's Eve. 
Autumn has always seemed a bit bittersweet to me, the end of color and production in the gardens, the end of the Season of Life, so to speak. Yet I love this time of the year. It's restful. And heaven knows, I need some rest!

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