Half-past autumn, and I am very tired. Summer was glorious - - canoeing, camping, visiting with friends and family, hiking, swimming, kayaking (whew!), gardening, harvesting, and now, putting it all to bed for the winter.
Right through Thanksgiving, we were busy with our search for the wild Matsutake. Mushrooms everywhere! Then they had to be cleaned and prepared for winter.
No wonder I’m tired.
I’m also solar powered. After a couple of grey days, it seems my internal batteries have worn out. And then, then I look out the kitchen window. Wow! The view takes my breath away. Brilliant yellow-orange-red maple leaves overhang the deck. Through the deep green pines, I see the dock where the bright red deck chair rests, overlooking the lake.
The beauty of this season more than makes up for the shortening of the days. The grey of a rainy day becomes ever so much brighter with all the glory of the leaves: yellows of birch, golden browns of the oaks, brilliant yellow of the large toothed aspen and the trembling aspen leaves still a bright green. And the maples! Oh, the maples brighten even the darkest of cloudy days. Interspersed with all the deciduous colours are the pines: red pines, white pines, jack pines. Each adding their special shade of green to the scenery.
The only sadness now comes from knowing this autumn pallet is short lived. We get just a few weeks to immerse ourselves in this radiance before the winds of October blow all the leaves off the trees.
Still, a walk in the woods will brighten my day. Whether the leaves are on the trees or on the ground, the brilliance seeps into my heart. Especially on the cloudy days. It’s like the trees have stored a summer of sunshine in their leaves, and it takes most of October for it to leak out again. The best fall photos come when the sun is hiding. The full saturation of colour comes now.
If you live in the city, you may be less enthralled by ankle-deep leaves on your lawn. Yet in the forest, this ground covering of leaves and pine needles acts like a blanket on the land. The forest needs the leaves for so many things. The insulation keeps the frost from going too deep. A myriad of creatures from mice to microbes live through the winter under this cover. As the leaves slowly decompose, nutrients are released back into the dirt, to prep the forest for another cycle of life next spring.
For a couple more weeks I’ll find the energy to get out to walk in the magical beauty of the forest. I’ll seek the solar energy that the leaves release. And I’ll make peace with the dwindling daylight hours.
Winter’s coming, and with it, some time to rest.
Viki Mather has been commenting for Northern Life on the natural world and life in Greater Sudbury since the spring of 1984. Got a question or idea for Viki? Send an email to [email protected].
