“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Autumn seems to be a little later than usual in arriving this year.  Here we are in the second week of October and I wonder, can you feel it yet?

I am just beginning to sense it…. that delicious feeling of the earth slowing.  Of Mother Nature settling down and preparing for the deep slumbers of winter.  Her message is carried on the damp night air but it emanates from deep within…. deep within the earth and deep within our own psyche.

It is the feeling that makes you want to make your home a little cosier, to buy throws and comfy cushions to throw on the old sofa; to make sure you have lots of fat winter candles; to order wood and coal for the fire.  It is the feeling that makes us crave root vegetables for soups and stews.

The natural world provides us with sensual cornucopia…..
the smell of woodsmoke,
the sound of crunching leaves underfoot,
the sight of the trees wearing their warm tones of russet and golden leaves,
the touch of misty mornings,
the feeling of energy being drawn inward.

Mother Nature whispers her message to our deepest selves.  She tells us that now is time to take stock, to pause, to be gentle with ourselves and others.  It is preparation for spiritual and psychological hibernation.   It is time for reflection and remembrance.  A time for gratitude and for nurturing.

It is simply my very favourite season…… and I fully intend to do as nature intends us to do… relax, reflect and recharge.

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
― George Eliot