Awareness

A Late Autumn Photo Diary

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Driving down my street this morning

Many people around me complain about living in upstate New York because of the long, hard winters (and I’m not arguing with them – they can be long and hard). But  there is also so much to enjoy in every season. I’m always amazed at the beauty and variety of Mother Nature and thankful to live where I do to see all the different “moods” she wears.

This is going to a  kind of “picture diary” of my drive into work, with glimpses of sights along the way (I was actually running early for once and so I could safely stop and take a few snaps as I went). 🙂

So the pic above is just after I turned out of my driveway…beautiful mist and golden-russet leaves strewn across the gray pavement…

 

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Swampy marsh

Next up, around 15 minutes into my drive…an atmospheric marsh with the sun coming up behind it. Sometimes I see Blue Heron flying in or out of it, and it’s got that sort of “gothic” feeling so lovely for this time of year, with the fog sometimes rising from the water and the black tree branches reaching into the sky.

 

A few minutes later, I enjoyed this pretty scene.

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field mostly in the dark, still, with the sun just peeking over the horizon

 

 

 

 

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field in the rising sun, backed by blue sky and lacy clouds

The fields were still shrouded in dark and then the sun came fully above the horizon and colors appeared…frosted grasses, brown branches, and a few trees still decked out in their autumn glory.

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Frosty cornfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way down the big hill into the valley where my school is, there’s a cornfield. Even the muddy, rutted area where the stalks have already been cut is made beautiful by the gilding of frost, so that it almost shines in the rising sun.

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An Amish home

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Stacked harvest of corn stalks

 

 

 

 

Lastly, there is an Amish community in the area, and their houses are all white and glowing in the misty morn.

 

 

The field across the road from this home is prepared for winter in the old-fashioned way, with the corn stalks harvested and placed “haystack” style. A picturesque and beautiful scene.

 

Mother Nature continually amazes me as she shifts and changes, attiring herself in her new wardrobe each season and slowly but surely adding tried and true “pieces” to her ensemble. First the shock of colors heralded her shift into autumn, and now the gilding of frost is her way of flirting with the garments of snow she’ll wear in another month or two.

I look forward to the transition. What’s Mother Nature doing (and looking like) where you are?

 

The Old Button Tin

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My mother’s old button tin (a reused, 1950’s Christmas cookie tin), a box of threads and some old “Bondex” iron-on material from the 1960’s

When I was little, I was always fascinated, watching my mother sew. She could hand sew or sew on the machine.

To me it was magic. I learned in later years, that it was necessity. With seven kids to raise on just my father’s salary (at least until I was a teen and my mother started a second career in the insurance industry and worked her way up to a CPCU license), it was more economical for my mother to craft many of our clothes and other items by hand than it was to buy them ready-made. Continue Reading…

The Illusion of Control – Or Being a Superhero

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So, lately in my life there have been some extra challenges.

They’re not the life and death kind, thank goodness. I and the people I love are healthy and (mostly) secure.

But the challenges that crop up can be disheartening and distressing, especially when they come in quick succession and kind of knock the wind out of me (you know what I mean?)

Sometimes they’re tied to people I love, and other times they’re connected to my teaching or writing career(s), where despite my best efforts and diligent work, I end up spinning my wheels in a way I never wanted, planned, or intended to. The giant road block (whether tangible, emotional, or mental) rises up in front of me and forces me – usually at great effort – to find a way around it.

Each of these instances sets me back on my heels for a bit. I have to process and come to terms with the hurt or angry feelings and then find a way to move through them to something better.

But that’s like taking a big, scary leap of faith, because continue reading…

On Handling Adversity

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The rising sun peeking from behind a red barn

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

~Maya Angelou

The Difference A Day Makes

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Sunshine outside my window this morning

Yesterday I posted about Rainy Days. Today, the landscape is entirely different, as you can see from the picture above, taken from the same vantage point as yesterday’s photo. The trees, decked in all their autumnal glory, seem almost to glow in the sunlight today, backed by robin egg skies and puffy white clouds.

But the change isn’t only in the outside world.

Today, my spirits are lighter. I’m making a concerted effort to focus on the positive around me and inside me, and to take baby steps toward keeping that balance I spoke of before. I, like many busy people who work full time at fulfilling but demanding careers (in my case two separate careers: teaching and writing), while also trying to be good spouses, parents, children, siblings, and friends, have times of feeling overwhelmed and unable to climb from beneath the pile of responsibilities, pressures, and even sadness or sense of helplessness. Lately, I seem to be having too many of those times.

But just as the world outside my window changes, so can I. Not much around us is truly in our control, but that much is.

My dear late father used to tell all us girls that, while we couldn’t control what happened to or around us, we could control our reaction to it. And therein lies a wealth of wisdom. In the years since his passing, I’ve found myself shifting away from remembering that like I should. I continue to miss his common-sense support, his unconditional love, and his wisdom-filled reminders. Sometimes I let the cares and worries overwhelm my days.

Today is a new day. Each day is a new day: a fresh page to fill with the writings of our own stories. Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery captured the essence of this wonderfully when she said, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

I’ve had a version of that quote posted on the wall of my classroom for 26 years. It is nice. And I’m going to try to remember that whether the rain comes down in torrents, the ice and snow blow and bluster, or the sun shines down…life – and each day in it – is what we decide to make of it. 🙂

Autumn Moods

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core…”

~ from “To Autumn” by John Keats

I’m in love with Autumn, as anyone who reads my blog can probably tell. I also love Romantic Age poetry, and Keats always seems to grasp the essence of what he writes about, whether it be a Grecian urn, or autumn, as above.

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

Around this time every year, I find myself regularly catching my breath at some new and gorgeous sight, like this bank of trees lining the road north.

I’ve always noticed and appreciated the splendor of autumn where I live, but this year I’m trying to slow down to take stock of it even more. Sometimes it’s an effort to be mindful in the face of my usual worrying, planning, and brewing.

Purples and gold editeds

Photo by: M. Reed McCall

But for some reason, the colors, moods, and textures of autumn help me to do that more easily than other seasons. It’s like Nature is putting on one, final, gorgeous show before the chilly north wind sweeps in, and the monochromatic ice, snow, and leafless trees take over the landscape.

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

In the meantime, I’m astounded by the vistas all around me, wherever I drive. I’m sure it helps that while I live in a small city, there is plenty of countryside around me, similar to where I grew up, and the school where I teach is a rural one that allows me to see countless beautiful scenes along the way to and from work. Take a look at these pictures with the varied and to me, at least, breathtaking skies; they almost seem like paintings, they’re so vivid and perfect:

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

Sometimes I look around me as I’m driving and feel a little selfish for having such lush beauty to enjoy; the realization that so many in the world look out at landscapes far more bleak or violent and war-torn is never far from my thoughts. Since there is no resolving that understanding, I do my best to be grateful and aware.

Autumn swamp on way to work 09 edited

Photo by: M. Reed McCall

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

Of course, in addition to all the colors of upstate NY autumn, there are some darker, “moody” landscapes as well, like this picture of a kind of swampy area on my way to work. Once in a while I’ll see a few big, dark birds winging through the bare-branched trees.

Sometimes the contrast comes from the sight of dark, billowing clouds in the sky just above a glowing patch of trees decked out in reds, oranges, yellows, and greens. But even these moments are welcome and inspire all sorts of creative thoughts and reflections.

 

 

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

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Photo by: M. Reed McCall

Mostly, though, this season fills me with a sense of awe.

The colors and transitions make me slow down and appreciate what’s all around me, while reminding me to take stock of what matters. To pay attention to the cycles of life in my own little world. Every life has its sunrise, its seasons, and its sunset.

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Sunset on the lake, as seen through the picture window in the living room at the Homestead (Photo by: D. L. Reed)

I don’t want to miss the experience of any of my seasons by looking too far ahead or worrying too much. It’s up to me to enjoy the here and now in all its incarnations – and in autumn that experience has its own vibrant flair, that I wouldn’t trade for all the sun-soaked beaches or palm trees in the world. 🙂