and so it begins...

~Paul Harvey, 1978

 

beauty in the ordinary...

It's been said that some folks are like squirrels when it comes to the month of October...digging in reverse. I agree...that sums me up perfectly as I dust off, shake out, and rearrange all the things I tucked away at winter's end. 

Bittersweet colored candles with names such as Sweet Cinnamon and Snickerdoodle are lined up across the fireplace mantel, while plump pumpkins, handlettered with cheery greetings, are set on cupboard shelves and alongside mums in an old flower cart by the front lamppost. Quilts that have been folded and stored during the heat of summer are freshly laundered and blowing in today's brisk & chilly breeze.

This time of year stirs in me the urge to once again pick up the pace on my to-do list...the temperature is perfect outside now - in the 60's during the day - so any end-of-summer clean-up and preparations for winter are done with ease. And while part of that ease is the definite lack of heat & humidity, part of the inclination to move a little quicker is to prepare for winter...be it harsh and long, or not so much...there's peace of mind in being prepared.

But also, there's peace of mind in remembering to pause, look around, and just "be." 

And so. on this beautiful October day, I've somehow stifled the urge to start a new project and looked for beauty in the ordinary...

Lastly... a dense, humming mass against the robin's egg blue sky as a flock of Starlings looks to roost for the night.

Known as murmuration, it happens each October as several thousand birds gather - an amazing sight that stops me no matter where I am, to watch...

and listen...

"We need time to dream, 

   time to remember,

   and time to reach the infinite.

Time to be."

~Gladys Taber