100 Word Musing

A long walk on a cool fall day clears cobwebs from my mind like nothing else.  Nature is truly my best retreat, a reminder of the peace which can be found in any moment if we simply pause to take it. The air smells of leaves and burning fields.  Everywhere you look a vast array of bright fall colour covers everything even the ground I walk upon. The sound of crunchy leaves underfoot and geese overhead follow each footstep.  The cool breeze feels like a caress against my skin. Fall days spent under a warm sun are days of comfort.    

Picture Day - Fall at Oak Hammock Marsh

100 word count - Crab Apples

Tis the season for crab apples falling from the trees. A bag quite near to bursting sits on my kitchen counter, full of apples waiting to be made into something tart and sweet.  A warm apple pie, a cold apple jelly, a  sticky apple crumble, sweet apple pancakes, flaky apple turnover, a warm baked apple, an ooey gooey apple topped cake or perhaps some crunchy apple chips. Lots of ideas and things I can do, perhaps I’ll even manage to use them all. Soon the whole house will be filled with the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg in the air.  

Picture Day - Beautiful Fall

 

I just love the wonderful colors of fall, the crimson red, the soft yellow, vibrant orange and crisp browns. The colors carpet the ground, brighten the trees and float through the air seemingly everywhere at once.   

Welcome Changes

Today is full of little rain showers cloudy skies and slightly cooler temperatures.  I couldn’t be happier about it.  I love each season for its’ very own reasons and this summer has been absolutely glorious but I’m ready for a change up.

This summer has been filled with blazingly hot and sunny days.  Practically every day has had that perfect summer feel. We haven’t had to cancel or adjust plans thanks to inclement weather and have done so much this year because of it.

I need those not so perfect summer days on occasion however.  The changes remind me to relax, to slow down and to simply be. I’ve come to realize just how much I love the changing season and the constant up and down that is the normal pattern of Manitoba weather.    

The same thing day in and day out this year has worn on me a little as well as my yard and garden.  My lawn only managed a few short weeks of bright green life before surrendering to the heat and falling back to dormancy. So although a great summer It has made me realize just how important those not so perfect days are as well. They make the good ones brighter in more ways than one.

My poor garden has never ever looked as badly or dull as it does this year. Nothing has wanted to grow in this heat and much of what did grow was eaten by deer unable to find enough in the forest.  My vegetables have been practically non-existent or un-harvestable anyways. Flowers and plants which normally thrive through the entire summer barely lasted a few short weeks.

I’ve happily exchanged my normally bright garden for the endless weeks of summer. The only downfall having been not getting that fully blooming garden I love was worth the great summer. Even if I can’t help but be a little disappointed in the tiny amounts of fresh veggies, garden herbs and berries I managed to get knowing what I have gotten so far is all I’ll get.

I don’t know if I’m quite ready for fall to hit full force as I’m still having summer fun but I’m happy to see the little changes begin.  As long as we get through the rest of the outdoor sports season relatively unscathed I’ll certainly remember this summer as having been a good one.