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‘There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!”– Percy Bysshe Shelley
“I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around… We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible.” — Sue Grafton
With the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd the journey toward winter began. For many this is a time of planning and preparation, making sure homes and vehicles are ready for the impending cold. Squirrels are busily burying nuts so they will have food for winter. Our daily lives begin to change as we dig out the winter clothes and soup recipes. This flurry of activity is in preparation to settle in and hunker down as the weather gets colder and colder.
As the earth prepares to slow down, this is our chance to slow down as well. With the cooler weather we can now begin cooking meals requiring lengthy times in the oven. The smell of fresh baked bread may begin to fill the kitchen. We are more inclined to settle in with a good book and a piping hot beverage.
This year especially, I hope we will heed the lessons of Autumn. Mother Earth has much to teach us if we will only slow down and take the time to listen.
Blessings to you during this beautiful season.
While an apple a day many not really keep the doctor away, apples are full of vital nutrients that help us stay healthy and well. Watch this slide show about the health benefits of apples then go eat an apple.
“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love – that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. 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.” [Letter to Miss Eliot, Oct. 1, 1841]” ― George Eliot
“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
“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.”
― Chad Sugg
Every year since I have been writing online I have struggled over what to do with October, particularly the last day of the month. Halloween is not something I celebrate or believe in. It seems that there is enough darkness, death and evil in the world without celebrating it. Let’s face it, in spite of it’s religious roots, modern day Halloween seems to have become just that — a celebration of darkness, death and evil and trying to make evil friendly.
So every year I struggle with what to do. One year I wrote about the Trick or Treat for UNICEF initiative to support a worthy cause. Another year I talked about alternatives to Trick or Treating. And yet another year I wrote an article about All Saints Day.
This year I decided there has to be something more uplifting we can turn our thoughts to during the month of October. I finally decided that we will celebrate apples here. Any why not? What’s not to love about apples? And there are so many things we can say about apples.
So put away your scary mask, cancel the séance and let’s have fun with apples.
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
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