Just a quick post a day early because I didn’t want you to miss today’s Google doodle. Not sure why the original leaves are blue, but it’s a fun way to usher in the first full day of Autumn.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more about the general giddiness of this season, with the promise of cooler weather, colorful leaves and pumpkin everything. Happy first full day of Fall!
You may be wondering what to do with your time while we all wait for broken politics and broken politicians to reopen the National Parks. I have a few suggestions.
National Parks are still closed eight days later, and though there’s access to some places, some of the closing measures seem punitive, designed to make citizens as mad as possible.
I simply don’t understand this quagmire, but instead of letting it make me despondent, I’ve searched for ways to be grateful and to fill my time with activities that soothe and heal and calm my soul.
Nothing beats a stunning sunset at the close of the day. I could have missed this one had I been focused on watching the nightly news instead of sitting on the porch swing at the close of day.
The federal government can’t shut down autumn. Get outside. Visit a state park (or even parts of National Parks that you can still get into. Or simply go for a walk in your neighborhood.
Fall is here, and it’s bringing its beauty with it. The government can’t mess up some things. So go outside and look for the change of seasons. Visit a pumpkin patch. Go leaf collecting. Fill up your bird feeders and see who’s still around looking for seeds.
Good reads!
Even if the weather isn’t cooperating where you are for outdoor adventures, or autumn hasn’t yet made an appearance, there are still ways to tune out the shutdown. Read a good book!
I’ve been catching up on my unread book pile lately and thought I’d share some of them with you.
A friend and fellow writer posted an interview with Nadia Bolz-Weber on her Facebook page recently, and as soon as I listened to the interview, I was hooked. Bolz-Weber is the author of Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, a stunning memoir in which Bolz-Weber describes the damage done to her as a child growing up in an ultra-conservative church, her subsequent path through alcohol, drug abuse and recovery (not to mention a few tattoo parlors) and into a Grace-filled life as a Lutheran pastor. If you have read this book, I want to sit down and talk about it with you over coffee.
But this book isn’t for everyone. It may not be for you:
Anyway, like I said, if you read the book, I’d love to discuss it with you.
Since I like to alternate between fiction and nonfiction these days – an easy way to cleanse my reading palate – the next book I picked up was Louise Penny’s The Brutal Telling, the fifth in her Inspector Gamache series. I don’t want to give too much away because it is a mystery and is the fifth in a series set in a small Canadian village with characters I’ve grown to love, but I will tell you this: The Brutal Telling is Penny’s best book yet. There are more in the series, and I’m woefully behind. So she may have better later books, but The Brutal Telling is haunting and magical and masterful. I love what Penny writes on her website about her own books: “If you take only one thing away from any of my books I’d like it to be this: Goodness exists.” This belief in goodness comes through in the way she writes, and the goodness in her complex characters shines through even the darkness inside them.
Next up on my list to read: Alberto Salazar’s 14 Minutes: A Running Legend’s Life and Death and Life. That’s not a typo. This world-class runner, now a coach to running greats such as Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, Dathan Ritzenheim and high school phenom Mary Cain, spent 14 minutes dead. No pulse dead. My husband has already read the book, and I’m looking forward to the inspiration it promises.
How about you? Are you finding good ways to distract yourself from the government shutdown? What about your favorite books that you’ve read lately? I’m always looking for recommendations to add to my to-be-read book stack.
After every party comes the cleaning up, the clearing away. A few weeks ago, I described the falling leaves in our yard as confetti, as though Autumn were throwing a grand party.
There’s still some confetti left on the trees, but for the most part, the party’s over. We’re fortunate where we live to have street crews that come through the neighborhoods to vacuum leaves we’ve raked to the curb. Here’s what our leaf pile typically looks like right before the crew is scheduled to visit our street:
A typical pile of leaves from our yard, with our dog posing to give you an idea of scale
The crews came through today, and in advance of their visit, the whole neighborhood has hummed a constant melody of leaf blowers with accents of rakes, preparing piles of leaves to be cleared.
It was a week that I would have preferred a quieter neighborhood, but I’m still grateful that our city collects the leaves this way, as it’s the easiest and quickest way to get the yard cleaned up.
Between now and the crew’s next visit, we’ll resort to filling up cans to the brim, as we prepare for the next party coming, the grandest of the year: Christmas, with its own variety of confetti that comes in sparkling lights and snow flakes. It’s another type of confetti and another party I’m excited and grateful to celebrate. How about you?
May I offer another gratitude challenge even now that Thanksgiving is over? As we prepare our hearts for the Christmas celebration, I challenge you to continue keeping track of all the blessings in your life. I’m hoping for a calmer, more sane holiday season, where I can keep my priorities in the right place and my focus of gratitude on the beautiful gift of our Savior’s birth. I’d love to hear some things you’re grateful for in this holiday season.
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I hope you’ll forgive today’s shorter than usual post. I’ve been quite sick all week with a stomach bug, but even fighting that, I’ve found plenty to be grateful for: getting home from out of town before getting sick, doctors on call in the wee hours of the morning, 24-hour pharmacies, the best husband in the whole world who was able to work from home for two days to look after me, oyster crackers, ginger ale and a calmer-than-usual dog. And, yes, even the hum of leaf blowers and street crews with vacuum trucks reminding me that life goes on.
I looked out of my office window on Monday and saw what looked like a party going on in my yard, with leaf confetti fast becoming a thick blanket of decoration:
Fallen leaves mix with the orange lantana remnants to create a medley of nature’s confetti.
The source of the confetti is all of our trees, lately having to decided to get with the autumn program, change color and drop leaves everywhere.
Just one source of the confetti in the yard
It’s like God is throwing a party and decorating the earth with brilliant colors to remind us of how beautiful life can be, even as winter looms.
Confetti for my artist’s date
Lately, I’ve felt a bit like the dried-up leaves on the ground, not the pretty reds and golds and bright oranges newly fallen and confetti-like, but instead like the crisped brown ones that crunch when you step on them and hitch a ride into the house on the dog’s feet.
I realized I’ve been ignoring my artist’s date, a term Julia Cameron defines in her book The Artist’s Way as a weekly solo date that she insists is essential for any creative person who wants to make creativity sustainable. So I decided to set out in search of more confetti for my artist’s date. And I knew exactly where to find it.
My mind hasn’t been quiet lately, and so today, I took a break from my normal routine to head outside, camera in hand, and see if I could capture some signs of our gentle Fall. I call it gentle, because it’s going to be in the 80s here today, and some of the trees are understandably confused.
It hasn’t been a beautiful fall yet, in part because nature’s confusion has browned some trees’ leaves already, bypassing their colorful stage this season. Other trees haven’t even considered giving up their summer green yet.
Regardless, my walk through the arboretum near my home left me with a renewed peace, a gentle spirit and a calm mind. I share this pictures with you to help you find your own gentle Fall. And if looking at the pictures doesn’t bring you peace, then I encourage you to head outside for your own adventure to find Fall’s gentle side.
An orange Fall beauty, tucked away at the edge of the arboretum
I love the yellow against blue here, and the hint of a wispy cloud
The Flourishing Tree 