Do not ever underestimate the power of sitting still for a few minutes, closing your eyes, and breathing.
Something that simple.
It is even better if you can sit on the ground and face the sun.
It makes you free.
Autumn Air
It is so cool outside and it makes me want to run in joy. I love each season, but I do find the most difficulty in embracing summer when the heat is at its strongest. It really can take the life out of you when it’s too hot, and when I lived with no way to cool my house in a hotter part of the desert here, I truly understood the meaning of the word siesta. In the afternoon, at the hottest, the heat put a spell on me and I would fall asleep no matter what I wanted to do.
The autumn air of the last two mornings has chased all of that way. The promise of cold sits in the early shadows and I like to sit there in wait. The traditions of this time are right on the verge of being celebrated: roasted chiles, apple pie, cooking meals over open fire, hearty stews, gifts of elk, walks in places where during summer I fear snakes, watching the leaves turn yellow, an annual trip with my mom to a cabin in the north, and I could go on. I love this time more with each year that passes.
Thank you September and the ever turning wheel of life.
There is still time to match the flowers.
The last sunflower. I think this will be the last giant sunflower that blooms in the garden. I love you.
Storm Offerings
Sometimes it seems that nature can read the calendar. Perhaps it does. Yesterday, September Eve, the last day of August this year, seemed to celebrate by ending in a very big storm. The thunder was deeper than usual, the rain heavier and more windblown. It was exhilirating! Then this morning—first of the beautiful month of September, the one who holds autumn—the air was the coolest it has been since spring. The day has remained moody and grey. A respite from summer’s heat.
When I sat outside in the morning sun, I noticed storm offerings laying around me on the ground.
Tonight is a full moon, in the sign of Pisces, the pinnacle of water in the zodiac.
Yes, nature reads the calendar and the stars.
Summer Sunday
I have been spending much time filming the flowers, the moonrises, and the animals who visit. When I first started using this camera, I was so excited and would film a little bit and make a movie; go out, film some more for a day, make another movie. I am still just as excited, but I have also spent more time collecting clips, over many days, to put into a movie. It might not sound like two very different things, but it is. I like learning the different workflows. So I’m excited to start working on putting the past week or two into a little movie I think will be called A Garden of Friends.
I’m compiling clips of the times I work on knitting my sweater, too, so that people can see how I make one. The first video is on Youtube, if you’d like to see. I’ve gotten a lot done it on it because the thick winter wool knits up very quickly! I’ll be doing the sleeves this week (and maybe next week too, I have long arms).
I hope you are enjoying these last days of summer. I feel a little bit of a sadness when I look at the flowers in what is now called The Fairy Garden. I know they will be around only until the first frost, maybe a bit before that, and then they are gone until next spring and summer. It feels silly being sad because this happens every year, and I know that. I also love every season! I love the joy the flowers bring to each day, and I will miss it. I had no idea when we planted their seeds that they would be the sort of focus where I’ve learned how to use the camera. So they’ve been my companions in that totally exciting and hopeful endeavor. Blooms watching blooms.
Night Winds
It was very calm this evening and suddenly a huge windstorm blew in, out of nowhere! It was a great surprise. I love when the weather gets a little wild. This wind will hurt your eyes for all the dirt it blows around. The tall sunflowers, who are still hanging on to summer, are bent almost to the ground! That is very strong gusty wind. I had to open my bedroom window wide and figure some quiet things to do so I can deeply enjoy the windy night. The chimes clang in the trees.
A wool sweater and a Russian fairytale that takes me in dreams to forests deep
The waxing moon rose above the pinon trees.
I really think there are endless photo compositions possible in the tiny fairy garden I love so much. Some simple white flowers that I say sing and inspire all the others to bloom. These arrived first out of the seeds that were planted, and they keep blooming. Every time new blooms come, a couple of days later more flowers open up, in a full rainbow of colors! Magic. I thanked them.