With this new season come colorful changing leaves, warm cozy sweaters, ciders and harvesting of the land. I wish we had more organic farms nearby, I wish all food sources were GMO free and organically grown. In spite of these feelings… low-chill olives, almonds, walnuts and other nut trees as well as apples have fallen from their umbilical cords. There's nothing quite like the just-harvested wealth of nuts, veggies and fruits of autumn!
Olives go to the press, nuts to the roaster, abundant colorful produce arrive at markets inspiring us to cook warm and healthy foods.
In autumn we move back the clocks, emerging longer nights and first frosts: this is a busy time of year—fields are being plowed while winter wheat is sown. Kids are back in school anticipating their Halloween costumes and seasonal treats. Parents balancing a lighter load, their jobs back in focus. Seasonal changes occur in the mind as well. we rearrange schedules, bring out afghans and blankets from their summer storage...
Life seems to resume its customary pace, another season has slipped away -but another one, full of expectation has arrived.
As a mid-sized school child I loved stumping through crunchy fallen leaves with my dark blue lace-up shoes,unaware one day I’d be among the colors of these peaks, mesas, buttes and hills with an unimpeded view of heaven… my life was different then: urban streets, the riot of city life, and school mornings in my uniform -a living memory- charmingly tucked in the confines within me. I will never let it go in spite of the twists and turns of my life; neither will I ever forget the tiny vision of me in French braids in the starchy white smock and royal blue bow of my early elementary school days: collecting velvety green moss from the walls and sidewalks of yesteryear.
There was nothing more seductive to me than the smell of crisp new notebooks and freshly sharpened #2 pencils on those first days of the new school year when the memory of sandy beaches and summer fun faded at gigantic steps.
Once I was in high school, during weekends and after school hours, I knew the joy of wearing red or caramel suede moccasins or knee-length boots; the magic of wrapping myself in a matching soft mohair sweater and scarf, my hair, pixie short, as I strolled with friends down the street inhaling the healing aroma of eucalyptus trees, on our way to a steamy cappuccino. And truly, autumn is for girlfriends, for young couples holding hands on quiet streets, strolling hand in hand along the crimson foliage, delighting in a tête-à-tête over text-books and coffee, happy as another season was in motion.
We seemed to be in a hurry to grow up and get on with our lives!
Here in Arizona, the colors of the Santa Catalina Mountains are never the same; the shifting light and arid conditions make a dramatic event of our daybreak and sunsets; a gamut of hues from shimmering purplish pinks, reds and oranges to violets and cobalt-y azures provide wavelengths of colorful light amazing the eye and the spirit. I still think South African sunsets are the most beautiful I've seen in my life but Arizona's are strong contenders. This is autumn in the southwest.
Perhaps my senses are heightened, my awareness right under my skin. One sunrise at a time, one sunset at a time I say, and I’m trying, I’m repeating my mantras, I try to see beyond my physical being, my spirit’s adrift. esw
No comments:
Post a Comment