“Twilight is upon me, and soon, night must fall. That is the way of things. The way of the Force.” – Yoda, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
The autumnal equinox has tilted those of us in the northern hemisphere away from the sun once again, and caused the deciduous trees here to prepare for winter with glorious abandonment – shades of red, yellow, orange and brown danced with green. To me, Autumn’s color always feels like a final present from nature before the harshness, darkness and bone-chilling cold of deep winter sets in. Just a little while ago, Dad Windu, with M-T’s Dad, headed out for what was probably his final fishing expedition of 2008 and was rewarded with this view.
Halloween, marking the cross-quarter, has fled. That twice annual ode to productivity, the time change, has nudged the hands on the clock forward again. Night is reaching deeper and deeper into every passing day. Although I understand the process and expect the days to shorten and the nights to lengthen, it still retains a feeling of mystery to me, as well as a very quiet sense of foreboding. Will the cold be harsher, the snow deeper, the blizzards longer? Will the sun, reflecting off a bright carpet of snow, regularly shine into our windows and warm the house, or will it be hidden by seemingly never-ending sheets of iron grey cloud cover such as we have today?
I saw our first flakes of snow, intermingled in the sleet and rain of this weekend, and woke up to snow on the ground this morning. As cruel and menacing as winter can be here in the Great Frozen Midwest, I’m looking forward to breaching the darkness of winter with flickering candles, the arrival of friends and family for the winter holidays, and long nights curled up with a thick book. If nothing else, there’s nothing more relaxing than sleeping in a cold house under the warmth of several heavy blankets. Instinctively, we have begun to make rich, hearty soups again.
Wow! Every now and then I follow “home” commenters in other blogs (in this case it was at “bormetotears”. And every once in a while the blogger I find, turns out to be a true inspiration. What a wonderful blog. What great talent you have. You play so elegantly with words, I can’t stop reading.
I read your about page as well, and I can only admire you and your family. I will definitely be back.
Thank you so much! What a lovely thing to say.
I love soup weather. And cozy reading a book under the covers.