Changing of Seasons

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."  ~Albert Camus

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face."  ~John Donne

Autumn is a season that always reminds me of warmth and coziness.  I love the vibrant colours of the leaves and the sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet.  The feeling of the cool and crisp breeze on cheeks that are turned the colour of a ripened apple or the warmth as you wrap yourself with a blanket in front of a fire.  The smells of autumn - the leaves as they fall to the ground, the smell of pumpkin and ripened fruit, cinnamon or the scent of a freshly baked pie.  I love the warmth on my hands as I wrap them around a cup of my favourite sweet and spicy tea with the scent that lingers with each sip.  It is a time of busyness as school starts up once again and activities begin, but to me it is also about new beginnings with the new school year.  It is a time when I anticipate Thanksgiving being right around the corner when we can focus on all that we are grateful for and the blessings in our life.  In autumn, I like to try to slow down and take the time to sip that cup of tea or to stroll through the leaves with my family.

And yet, autumn can also be a little depressing with the leaves falling from the trees, leaving the branches empty.  Autumn leaves loose their colour as they fall to the ground and decompose.  Birds migrate to warmer climates and the long, lazy days of summer begin to shorten and the days are dark when you wake and long before you are ready for sleep. The autumn wind grows colder with each passing day as winter quietly waits to step in.  A quote I came across had me stop to reflect:

"I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now.  One does, I think, as one gets older." ~Virginia Woolf

With the recent death of Ayden, my emotions fluctuate as I continue to grieve his loss.  I smile at the memory of him and then in the next minute when I least expect it, I tear up at the thought that he is gone. The season of fall and the shorter days, seem to match my mood.  I understand how one can see autumn as the end with spring being a new beginning and rebirth.  And yet I am reminded of scripture from Ecclesiastes that everything has it's season and I am comforted.

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to fear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."  ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

And I choose to focus on the positive and appreciate each day with my family as a blessing.  Each day begins anew and I pray to God for strength, peace, comfort, and wisdom.  And I choose to see the beauty around me in the smallest details of a leaf to the grandest of details like the amazing palette painted in the sky.  And I am grateful...despite my pain, despite my whirling emotions...I am blessed and I am grateful.

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!" ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Family Fall Photo Shoot 2014

I love Kirra's expression on her face as she grabs her brothers hand.  And I love how Jaret is not certain that he likes family pictures.