Warding Off Winter's Chill

Fall has officially arrived and I'm not ready. I usually love this season with the crispness in the air, the leaves dressing up the trees, the clear blue skies in between bouts of rain. This year, all I can think about is that winter follows behind fall and I'm not at all looking forward to the dreary cold that is winter in the Pacific Northwest. I don't feel recovered from last winter that stretched into a very cold spring. I find myself sympathizing with the squirrels, wanting to stockpile wood and food and cook hearty meals and freeze the leftovers. Maybe that's natural. Maybe feeling the urge to bring in the harvest and stockpile against the dangerous unkowns that winter brings is built in to our DNA.

With all the bad economic news and the nasty political campaigns this election season maybe hunkering down is also a natural protective response against the wintry relations that beset the human family at this time. I no longer follow the national election. When local TV campaign ads foul the air in my family room , I mute the ads and avert my eyes. I take walks and cast my eyes to the heavens, seeking solace in the autumnal finery. I read cook books looking for tasty recipes that will offer solid eats.

With so much of the world news running to bad and worse--and completely out of my control--I find that the simple acts of nourishing my family, cleaning our clothes, beautifying our home calm me and root me in the present moment, which is all I can count on. Winter will arrive whether I will it or no. In the meantime our backyard maple is turning from green to red, as if the tip of each leaf had been dipped in a wet sunset and hung up to dry on the branches.

There is beauty before me, out my back window, beauty around me in the love of my family, beauty under me in the warmth and security of my home, beauty over me in the hope for better times. In the meantime, there is fall and the promise that to everything there is a season.