After a long, tough week, I needed to re-centre and ground myself. Most often I am able to do this by being in nature, and this weekend did not disappoint.
I like to drive and explore our area, to see what is new and enjoy the familiar.
I took my dog Skyler and went in search of the solitude I needed. Like many others, I found it along the banks of the river. Water calms my soul. I went to old fishing haunts in hidden-away places. Although I only encountered one fisherman the whole day I knew from the trucks and boat trailers they were out there.
It reminded me how many people come from all over the world to just enjoy our backyard for a week or two.
I noticed many folks in their yards chopping, splitting and putting wood away for winter, and others cleaning up the yard of decorations, and putting away plants into the greenhouse.
The weekend had a “lets just hang out in the yard and have a bonfire,” kind of feel to it.
The more time I spent looking at the beautiful land we live in, the more peaceful I felt, and I was grateful.
Grateful that here in the valley I love, I am able to escape the insanity of the world. My worries become not ones of wars or climate change or devastating hurricanes and the aftermath, but of more basic concerns, such as, if my dog runs over that embankment, how the heck do I get her out? My mind slows down for a while. It allows me to see my surroundings, to really appreciate them.
The leaves are coming down, and are in all different beautiful colours, the river is lazy and calm, and the mountains loom all around, reminding me they will soon be covered in snow.
This has been an unusually dry and warm fall, it seems. I cannot remember another quite like this one, in decades at least. It allows time to get fall chores done.
Thanksgiving will be here on Monday (Oct. 10), and as we gather with family and friends, I will be grateful. For those present and those past and for all we have. It is a good time of year to give thanks and to look around and appreciate the beauty and everything this land has to offer.
We are lucky people. We have each other, and our corner of the world, which is mostly isolated from the craziness that inundates cities, and populations farther south.
We may have challenges this winter, but we will face them like we have every other, together.
Happy Thanskgiving!