All the magic
The streets of our York neighborhood are alight with autumn, November 2014.
“The Sussex lanes were very lovely in the autumn. I started going for long lone country walks among the spendthrift gold and glory of the year-end, giving myself up to the earth-scents and the sky-winds and all the magic of the countryside which is ordained for the healing of the soul.” — Monica Baldwin
Saturday (two days ago; I’m no longer two weeks ahead in writing these posts) I was a bit reluctant to head out into the cold for my walk. I wasn’t feeling all that well, and the 40-degree weather was not inviting, despite the afternoon sunshine. I imagine some of you who live far north of here might laugh at the idea of being kept indoors by temperatures in the 40’s, but you can’t take the southern out of the girl…
In any case, I bundled up in five layers– yes, FIVE– and tucked my camera into my pocket as an added incentive. Almost immediately, I was so happy I did not chicken out of the walk. It was splendid, exactly what I needed that afternoon. I took the photo above, along with many, many more, on the streets of our York neighborhood where I imagine that I and my camera have become familiar to most of the neighbors.
Perhaps Baldwin is not exaggerating when she says the autumnal splendor, along with other beauties of the countryside, are ordained for the healing of the soul. It certainly felt healing to me that day, as it almost always does.
It may be growing quite cold where you live (or perhaps getting uncomfortably warm, if you are south of the equator) but I hope that you will brave the weather for the balm of nature’s abundant gifts. Tuck a few memories away in your mind or your camera, and enjoy the vivid canvas of November before the colors are muted and dormant. I’ll have hot tea and scones for you when you return.
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Nice post 💞
Oh! How beautiful! This photo appears to shimmer plus displays the Glory of our Creator!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Mary Ann, that is one of my favorites of our York County neighborhood. The sun caught the beauty of those leaves just right, didn’t it? I’m glad you like it.
I never read that quote before, or maybe I read it 7 years ago when you first published it on your blog. Her words are enchanting! The more I read them, the more they pull me into that scene and mood. It reminds me of some of the Celtic writings. Lovely thoughts from her and from you to start my day, thank you!
Thank you, Judy. I’m so happy you like it. One of the best parts about writing all these blog entries was having an excuse to read through amazing quotes, sometimes for hours on end. And for every one I featured here, I read dozens more equally thought-provoking gems from people all over the world, throughout recorded history. I have so many books with dozens of post-it flags where I read a quote and thought “that’s a good one for the blog.” The flags are still there for those I never used in a post. Our generation is wealthy indeed, to have such easy access to so many literary delights. No one need ever feel bored when surrounded by hundreds (even thousands!) of talented authors.
I love autumn so much! That’s a lovely photo. Sometimes I worry that I waste the rest of the year waiting for this time of year.
It’s hard not to long for autumn in the heat of the summer, and equally hard (for me, anyway) to wait for springtime when the cold weather becomes depressing. Still, I like having four seasons. We lived so much of Jeff’s career in locations where the seasons were much milder and at times, almost indistinguishable, that I was happy to get back to a climate where I could really anticipate FOUR distinct cycles, each with charms of its own. But I really identify with the author George Eliot, as she wrote to a friend: “Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”