Fortunately for me, the first freeze in this part of Texas came just a little over a week ago, and with it came the changing of the colors on the local foliage. The driveway on the ranch is lined with beautiful crepe myrtle trees, and the leaves turned colors and blew off in the breeze within a couple of days of the freeze. However, when I went out to run an errand this morning, I took a different route back to the house, and came upon these beautiful Chinese Pistachio trees flanking a scrub oak. I sat for a moment and just enjoyed the color, taking some deep breaths and simply being with the change of seasons.
When I returned, the wind had picked up, and all of the leaves that had been raked into neat little piles, ready to be collected, were being blown in all different directions, making me giggle as I made my way through them.
When I was growing up, the year was defined more by the school calendar than the changing of the seasons. We had some unbelievably hot summers, and the fall brought the famed Santa Ana winds, but generally, the seasons rolled into one another without much noticeable shift in the weather.
There are two types of weather phenomena that I have loved for as long as I can remember – wind and fog. When I feel wind against my face, or in my hair, I find myself connecting to a sense of aliveness that I can feel all the way through my body. I feel energized, alert and ready for whatever the moment brings. When I walk in fog, I am aware of moisture draping itself around me, encouraging me to tighten my fingers around my thumbs to keep warm.
As I think about Peace this evening, I find it by connecting to the weather, the seasons and the colors, and I feel a sense of oneness with the world around me. This feeling creates a place of serenity within me that fills me with gratitude and brings me Peace.
Wonderful photograph! Perhaps some day we can spend the fall chasing the colors from Maine to Texas!
I would love that!