Fall-Season

[caption id=“attachment_2601” align=“aligncenter” width=“800”] Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air — explode softly — and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth — boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either — not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~Robert Fulghum[/caption] ...

It doesn’t seem so long ago that I wrote the post “Summer’s Gone” and here I am writing about Thanksgiving. In Canada, this long holiday weekend falls in October. Fall is definitely here in all its beauty and the harvest has been reaped. The weather is cooler now and the colors have changed. Time does go by! It’s fun to pick up the leaves and admire their colors. The ones I’m holding here are from the St. Martin’s church yard where I had stopped to take some pictures. My father died in October 2000 and as the date approaches, I’m thinking of him. He wrote a poem called “Autumn Leaves” which I shared in its entirety in another post. In that poem, he was wondering when the leaves show their true colors. The first verse talks about Spring, and in the second, he’s wondering whether it’s in the Fall: ...

Fall has already officially begun. I was reminded of this when my September newsletter arrived in my Inbox this morning from Gratefulness.org - a network for grateful living. It referenced this beautiful poem called “Equinox” which I’m going to share with you. There are many insightful thoughts here about what our gardens give to us and about life in its raw elements. In so many ways, life is like a garden - sowing, reaping, growth, decay, changing seasons, and changing crops. What a good summer it’s been and this poem lights the way to let go of it - the right way. Enjoy! ...

Niagara Falls has always been one of my favorite places that makes for a nice get-away from Toronto. Fortunately for me, through the generosity and kindness of a friend, my visits there are once a month. It doesn’t matter what time of year it happens to be, the Falls are spectacular. As you can see from the images above, the recent ice storm left the Bridal Veil Falls (American side) frozen. The Horseshoe Falls (Canadian side) continues to flow and is the larger of the two. Such natural beauty! ...

On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be “a day of general thanksgiving to almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” For some of us, Thanksgiving is a big celebration with friends, family, and the traditional turkey dinner. For others, it’s a time of reflection or just another holiday to enjoy in our own way. Whichever way we spend it, we have all been out and seen the beautiful colors that Nature provides at this time of year. ...