Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?
Hal Borland
In my neck of the woods, the "ripeness and color" are in the early fall, and now in the late fall we have the "breadth and depth and distance." It is only when those colorful leaves drop to the ground that the world opens up. Time was when one could walk up the hill from this house and see down to the main road, almost a half mile away. There were no trees. The place above, and this place were farms with open land. You know the saying, "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute," well, that's the way it is with trees around here. They spring up when you turn your back. It is hard work keeping the pastures free, and even with all our animals, Tom still has to get out there and mow. In the blink of an eye, there is a little pine, ready to begin a new forest. But this time of year, there is a clarity, a further reach which comes just when we feel like contracting. While we stay inside more, the view out the windows is broader, keeping us connected with the outside world.
Beautifully written. I love this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amy. Please come again.
ReplyDeleteAmy, do you have a blog??
ReplyDeleteI love this. It made me think of something Andrew Wyeth said:
ReplyDelete“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.”
It`s strange ... though I identify with what he says I also feel something to the contrary - that winter and fall is when the whole story does show, as though the leaves and foliage were all in the way of what is really going on.
"A further reach" - I like that. Your last two sentences are beautiful, insightful, thank you.
Colleen, it means so much to me that you came back and read this. I like the Wyeth quote but agree with you! Have you ever read the biography of N.C. Wyeth? I read a snippet in Vanity Fair years ago, bought the book, but never finished it. More here if you are interested:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/N-Wyeth-Biography-David-Michaelis/dp/0060089261/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Thanks again for coming back here - this is what I love the most about blogging - continued conversations.