Autumn Around the Corner

asters and viburnum berries

Although the forecast is for sun and 80s for the next few days, Autumn is around the corner here. in the Pacific Northwest. This year I'm ready. The time of change and going within is the path. I am excited for the storms and the winds, the cold and the gray.

 

The changing colors belie the season of cool crisp mornings, spider webs across every piece of vegetation, warm sunny days, colors beyond green, gray, and brown. A walk in the woods gives voice to a few bird calls, no song at this time of year. The migrants have left or are leaving and the residents are getting ready for a tougher season or two. On a recent walk at Camano Island State Park I found a coyote howling in the wood.

When I wander the woods with nowhere in particular to go I find the most interesting things. The beach was flowering. Late summer, early Autumn finds asters and gumweed blooming, last chances for the bees and butterflies still lingering.

 

Moving through the days moment by moment brings stillness and wonder, if only we would slow down.

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither