The Fall of 2021 has arrived. The clock says it is morning, but darkness lingers and there is no birdsong to greet me. Thankfully garden blooms continue and their colour helps to keep me sane. As the gentle but frequent frosts of fall begin, the blooms are replaced by colourful tree leaves.
This past summer’s strangeness left me empty. Heat, smoke, and a deadly virus weighed in, whittling away my creativity.
I think that it’s now time to rejuvenate my creativity. I’ll need it to keep my outlook positive during the coming winter months. Months of short days, long nights, freezing temperatures, snow shovelling, and icy roads. But there’ll be no smoke and the skies will be clear most of the time. The crunch of snow underfoot, skaters on Mitford Pond, and shouts of laughter on the toboggan hills will make our Canadian winter here in Cochrane a good time to be alive.
I’ll walk, eyes and heart wide open, ready to receive images that please me as well as prose, kindled by memories and emotions. I’ll write stories, create photographic art, and get together with friends and family, as the health rules allow.
I’m grateful to have this available to me. This stage of my life might be tedious without it.
Fall is my favourite season. For me it is another start, another chance to do something more, something different. This is probably a feeling carried over from my years in school and then at university. Each Fall seemed like I was diving into the unknown, but with optimism.
I’ve been out in it, Fall in Cochrane that is. I walk on my own sometimes and other times with our Cochrane Men’s Walking Group, always watching for the beauty of the season. Here is some of what I saw on those walks.
Inspiring! Love the story and the photos. Just the reminder I need to relish the new season.