Clear skys, and crisp nights, the sun is rich and golden, one of those days when you can see back in time and forward into the future. The woods are still, except for a foraging chipmunk or chickadee. It feels so good to sit on the deck,soaking in the weekening warth of the sun, and look out across the garden and into the woods. Earth has settled down for it's long nap and as much as I try to fight it, I will soon be doing the same, I am getting weary also. There are still pears, apples and pumpkins to be put up, a few seeds need to be cleaned for planting next year. A new pit needs to be dug for the pitiful amounts of compost that will be generated over the winter. I think next year I just might plant popcorn, and I have already started to make a large heap of earth and compost for the pumpkins. Going over and over and over the list of things that need to be done in these last few days that outdoor work is comfortable. It is pleasant to work in a gentle snowfall, but not the chilly rains of November.A few wisps of coal smoke, can bring back memories, that I only surface at this time of year, giving me pause. Reflection on what was and what I wished had been, savoring the good and saddened by the bad, I can get lost in thought. I have heard my parents and others, people who I thought were old, but at the time were younger than I am now, talk about how this time of year made them nostalgic. Clocks have been turned back, and last night at this time it was still light out, all of a sudden the nights are longer. Winter is erasing the colors of Spring, Summer and Autmn and clearing the land so it mends and replenishes itself, and it does the same for those of us who allow it to.
Looking up at the cloudless sky and the waxing gibbous moon, I feel the wheel of the year turn, and know that this is just a time for rest and reflecting.
