The Tranquility of Grey

There's something about mist that's delightfully stilling. Some people find grey days very depressing, and I will admit that too many of them in a row can have a decidedly dampening effect on one's spirits. However, when cold days are still something of a phenomenon, and you're revelling in sweaters, long skirts, and boots, the facets of grey weather are more soothing than saddening.

Yesterday, I took time out from work to go for a twenty minute walk in the afternoon. The sky was completely overcast with a dense blanket of silver clouds, and the temperature was such that the morning mist had never had a chance to lift. What impressed me immediately about the day was its quietness. I stepped out of the building, and everthing was perfectly still. Even the ring of my boot heels was softened by the silence around me.

As I wended my way up the road and back again, a soft frosting of dew-like rain settled on my hair, cocooning me in the texture of the day. All about me was tranquility, and with a whisper, that peace stole right into my heart, leaving me utterly content with a blissful quiet in my soul. Only grey misty days are capable of producing just that kind of stillness, that simple uncomplicated silence that is happy just to be what it is, as it is--not anticipatory, not active, not lazy, not languid--just complete.

The Glories of Autumn

Well, autumn is officially upon us according to the calendar, and it's even beginning to feel like it outside. The temperature has dropped; there's a lovely breeze, and the trees are beginning to show hints of their true colors.

I've never like the word "fall" because it absolutely fails to capture the reality of autumn. "Fall" soounds depressed, hurt, dull, and dreary. But "autumn" sounds spicy and rich, just like the season itself. "Autumn" speaks of pumpkin pie, cinnamon candles, hot cider, long walks, bonfires and marshmallows. "Autumn" sounds like the tapestry of warmth sewn by the changing trees. It sounds like the blanket of mist that shrouds the mornings, and like the incense of woodsmoke that permeates the atmosphere during this delightful season.

I find it remarkable that this season which signals the waning of the year is yet so full of energy. In fact, no other season is so energetic as autumn. No other season has that delicious crispness in the air, that invigorating clarity and liveliness that makes you want to burst with joy and activity. No other season makes you feel so capable of accomplishing great things. What a gift--to be given the spice of life in this wonderful time of the year!