colors of autumn

It's now autumn. Autumn is the season that comes between summer and winter and officially starts on the 21st of September. Americans started and usually call this season fall because it is a time of falling leaves. In Nederlands, it's translated as herfst or najaar ( herfst is pronounced as what it is being written and najaar, j is pronounced as y ).

I am very enchanted during fall especially this year. Last year's autumn was not as colorful as this time. Now, deciduous trees shed their leaves, with the leaves changing to a reddish or brownish hue before falling. In temperate zones just like in the Philippines, autumn is the season during which most crops are harvested though we don't have this official season.

(The yellow flower, oncidium or dancing lady, stands at our window pane, this blooms on its 3rd time since the time we have it last year. This also serves as our daily sunshine for the past few weeks :-)).

In the fall, there's nothing like the low-angled, amber light of autumn shining on a late season garden. When I biked, there was a smoky haze in the air that gave the countryside a dream-like atmosphere. Sometimes, when I biked going through to the villages, the green meadows appeared of multi-hued colors. The cows’ breath fogged the chilly air and of course, their smelly waste is also freely dancing with the air to give you their unselfish earthy odor. Well, not to make my blog stinky...:-) I would say that the aromatic scents of the leaves and flowers are the most empowering fragrances you will smell when you pass in the bushes or walk along the array of trees. It's magnificent I would say. Walking in the woods with the heap of falling leaves at your feet. This year's autumn is really beautiful.

Everywhere you go, you see warm earthy tones in the garden, a sprinkling of colour from summer's last flowers, brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the trees dressed in their best fall finery. The colours remind us of the wonderful summer we have just had. One can still feel the last of the sun's summer warmth on one's face while crisp air fills the sunny days and cooler nights. Store windows and markets are adorned with all the fall colours, tempting the passer-by. It is a season to be enjoyed for as long as it can be, before the onset of the long cold winter.

Now a little late of sighting colors since the flatland is stormed, frequent rain poured and tremendous bursting of wind blasted. Leaves are just falling, make the trees almost bald and grey.

Anyway, before the end of this scenic autumn, I just got few shots of a garden park nearby in our neighboorhood (the garden fotos were all taken at the Wilhemina park at Weteringlaan, Delft).

You know, while I'm writing this post, I'm quite inspired to compose a poem about autumn. Actually, autumn has often been associated with melancholy. The possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, and people turn inward, both physically and mentally. I read a lot about associated medical stories how this season affects human behavior, like winter blues: Seasonal Affective Disorder: Are you SAD? due to decrease exposure of sunlight as fall deepens and extends throughout the darker days of winter. I won't go deeper to this topic...this kinda an opossite side of how colorful autumn is, right?

I would like to share few lines from an autumn story I just browsed in tonight. ( I coudn't tract back the page anymore to cite who the author was...)

...I look out the window and watch Autumn's story unfold. I witness crimson, auburn, and gold leaves, clinging to their branches in the late October wind. The wind seems relentless, and the leaves struggle to hold on, whipped back and forth. Then, in a moment of what appears to be surrender, but which I think is better described as reconciliation, a leaf lets go of its branch, and gives itself over to the wind. It does not plummet straight to the ground. It floats gently, this way and that, as if recalling its life on the branch. If the wind is strong, the leaf may stay in the air for minutes on end, swirling around with other leaves. Yet, in the end, the leaf comes to rest on the solid earth. It returns to the ground from which the tree itself arose, many years ago, to mingle with the dust and ashes of life's other forms. This is the story Autumn tells...

Autumn is telling us something important. Autumn fires something in our imagination that we can reflect with. With its blustery days, its dropping temperatures, its slowly freezing ponds and rivers, its long, dark nights, and its beautiful, falling leaves...and in a certain point, you will realize how beautiful life is. We only have one life but we can create more lives out of living it to the fullest. We live at a certain point and die at any unapprehended time. However, a young leave in the spring must give its colors through the summer and is destined to fall in the autumn...but people has more chances to live...to show real colors, not just a bright colorful leaf but people have chance to share joy and happiness to anyone that is lasting and enduring...longer than forever.

Some wishes to become a leaf, to live shortly but fulfilled. Hmmmmm....I would rather choose to be me :-) Just living once but still has a chance to live life all over again when get stumble and fall. Fall is a gift of nature...to be appreciated and reminded how great is the One who made it.

I got deeper here than SAD... I have to sleep now I think :-) See yuh!