by Author Name Withheld 40

Created on: September 12, 2009

Isn't it beautifully designed the way that Autumn colours lead us brightly into Winter. I believe in nature and I don't know if it is deity inspired or just how it is, but I would have to forgive people for believing in a higher power this time of the year.

Autumn could be the best time of the year save for the fact that it is proceeded by Winter. When you live in four seasons like I do, you really only wish for two and surprisingly those choices aren't Summer and Winter, for me they are Spring and Autumn.

Autumn and its colourful departure has been the inspiration of bards, storytellers and poets. It is the last gasp of gaiety, of long bright evenings and warmth. The evenings close in rapidly, the light dessicates into a flush of red at sunset but the colours keep us going. The russet browns, the ochre yellows, the flashes of vermillion, trees lose their leaves in a glorious flurry. Seeds come to fruition, blackberries plump up, apples redden and horse chestnuts shine in a polished wood way. Even some evergreen trees put on a show for us, the Japanese Spruce changes from red, to orange to bright yellow before turning green again in an eternal cycle.

Because Autumn eventually sends the gales to see it out, it is a time for strong, fresh breezes, you can be windswept and interesting. A brisk walk in the evening will not only give you a view of all the wonderful autumnal scenes but it will also invigorate your senses.

As a child the best colours of Autumn are to be found on the forest floor in early Winter. These cast off's create a patchwork quilt of wonder to the small child. Wellington booted and rain-coated adorned there is nothing like kicking the leaves high in the air, with each vital step.

And then taking those colours home, hiding bunches of crispy leaf in your plastic pockets, bringing them out late at night to brush them against your face, to touch these delicate treasures. Tracing them over paper, rubbing them with crayons, making a facsimile of Autumn in your copy book.

What competes with the colours of Autumn? The birdsong of Spring? The dragonflies of Summer? The first snow of Winter?

Maybe each to its own and on its own, in its own place... they are all equally wonderful. But for now it is Autumn that is centre stage and boy when Autumn puts on a show you just have to watch!

Learn more about this author, Author Name Withheld 40.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.