A Note About the Weather
In death, the hope of life.
Hello everyone! It has been some time since my last post. But here is a short reflection on the weather and the season of fall. Please enjoy!
The seasons are changing, and the world around me is smelted into an alloy of gold, bronze, and silver. Fall brings about an abundance of colors and harkens of the approaching winter. For now, the weather swings in unpredictable ways, mid 30's in the morning and soaring into the mid 80's by the afternoon. Winter and Summer seem like foundational seasons, but Fall is a season of change.
We had a thunderstorm last night. The same strong winds that blow the leaves off the trees and the birds into the skies brought a wonderful natural lullaby. The thunder and lightning dance and clap across the sky as they travel eastward. They were kind enough to come close enough to our house to share their meteorological story. The morning came as the storms left. The colors of the trees and the leaves in my yard still remember the peaceful story of the gypsy-like storm the night before.
The calm and the grey overcast sky share the morning without begrudging the other. There is no hint of an ominous approach and the wind blows gently, turning the leaves in the driveway like pages in the Book of Time. My son and I watch the world through the windows. What does he see? How does he see differently than me? In time, will he see the same way as me? In some respects I hope that he does, but with a deeper sense of wonder and amazement that the world viewed rightly fosters.
Fall, to me seems like a season of reflection. The period of time when the world remembers before the big sleep of winter. The leaves change and fall, the trees turn inward and grey, and the light of day shortens. Nature offers its final thoughts for the year before it casts itself into hibernation in anticipation of the coming spring. I see the trees outside swaying in the wind. I imagine that they are laughing through the memories of summer. They remember when the squirrels chased each other through their branches and when the birds sang their summer songs.
For me, fall is also the keyhole that I get to peek through. The door of winter is locked, for now, and keeps me from spring. But fall is a season of change, just as spring heralds the new year and ushers in summer and leads out winter. As the leaves fall and the forests burst with a variety of colors, I can't help but think of spring. (But that is a reflection for another time.) In fall, I see the hope of life. The casting off of the old and the approach of death. But the death is not final.
Superb Jake! This reflection has given me much to think about.
This paragraph is golden: "Fall, to me seems like a season of reflection. The period of time when the world remembers before the big sleep of winter. The leaves change and fall, the trees turn inward and grey, and the light of day shortens. Nature offers its final thoughts for the year before it casts itself into hibernation in anticipation of the coming spring." - I love your point about fall being the final thoughts of nature. A very evocative line and a great way of describing the flurry of colour and activity we witness in Autumn.
I have been writing a series of reflections on the seasons which you may be interested in. You can find them here https://overthefield.substack.com/p/published-work Autumn and winter pieces are being edited as we speak.