welcome dear autumn...

my favorite day of the year has finally arrived.
yes, i prefer it over halloween, thanksgiving, and christmas.
today means that harvest has finally come,
and the earth is settling in for rest.
the trees give up their clothing...becoming naked and vulnerable.
the wind becomes a constant guest.
the moon and stars spend more time with us.
oh, blessed day indeed!

this most recent weekend, ceej and i set out to hopefully find
leaves aflame, and falling to the ground...
we saw just a handful, enough to make my heart swell.
i was happy to find the coast engulfed in a gray and misty fog...
i'll take that kind of fall weather anyday.

this morning began with a deliberate and yin yoga practice,
gratitude and heart-openers always followed with
bows to the earth.
as my feet were pressed firmly on the earth,
my hands raised to the skies...
i became a sort of "axis mundi": a universal pillar, connecting heaven and earth.

for the rest of the day, and for the rest of the season,
i intend to surround myself with whitman, dickinson, alcott, emerson, and thoreau...
and, of course, dahl.

something i have come to truly love and contemplate is the law of the harvest:
you reap what you sow.
now is the time of harvest...what did you sow?
what are the fruits of your labor?
i think of frost's poem "after apple-picking"

my long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
toward heaven still,
and there's a barrel that i didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
apples i didn't pick upon some bough.
but i am done with apple-picking now...

and i could not let the day go by without mentioning that a birthday celebration is in order today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILBO & FRODO!
long live the shire!

happy autumn equinox everyone.
enjoy your harvest.

{thank you all for your help with choosing a photo for me yesterday! i truly appreciate all the feedback. you are too kind! it looks like photo #2 is our winner. i'll be sending it in tonight...we'll see how i do!}