Embracing the Gentle Shifts of Seasonal Change

A Gourd-geous Day

It begins in the sunlight. Longer rays, stretching across the field, transitioning from brilliant lemon yellow to a warmer, Tuscan glow. Lower in the horizon, the sun provides a cozy haziness that settles upon the garden. The pumpkins soak up the vitamin D, plumping steadily in preparation for autumn, pumpkin pies and jack-o-lanterns. Advertisements of fall fairs dance on television screens and wildflowers release their seeds to pop up next spring.

For myself, it is all of this, and a longing for the warmth and the longer days to continue beyond September. As the days remaining in August shortens, so too, do the daylight hours. Soon, September will arrive, and I love the changing of the colours in the deciduous trees as they become gold, orange, and red. Too soon for me, though, autumn fades and winter arrives, and the long hours of darkness with it. I remind myself that winter will not be forever, and that spring will rise again.

Summer is still here, and I will absorb all its vitality and appreciate every sunrise, every warm afternoon glow across my open field, and each changing of the flower colour guard, where in the spring was a blanket of purple and pink lupins, is now a field of yellow, Black-eyed Susans and fuschia Echinacea. Though winter will be upon us before too long, I will take joy of my garden spoils, spilling over the raised beds and shooting up on the trellises--sprouting beans, expanding gourds, and sprawling leaves of broccoli. Every day is a gift.

Delectable Veggies