August 17, 2021

The eye cannot hardly tell the difference. Weeks prior, I had been noticing cornfields so green and lush. The trees are as full and green ad possible. The summer in Wisconsin shows it’s climatic colors in the truest greens imaginable. Only the texture differences, like those between oaks and evergreens, interrupt nature’s canvas.

I was admiring the greens around my home when I spotted it. Hardly noticeable and could be mistaken for sunlight upon branches, a swash of yellow hinted at the seasonal change to come.

It’s the loveliest recurrence, really. My preferences were never the in-between time of late summer. Retailers start showing pumpkin products with glowing orange and golden home decor. (Don’t even get me started on pumpkin spice!)

Some people comment on the inevitable colder weather to come. “It’s a sign! It’s a sign!” They proclaim winter to be heading our way. True enough, but again it’s mid-August, with eighty degrees and sunshine. But my mental list of winter preparations hops to attention.

Perhaps I should make that phone call for firewood.

But back to school drags on my heart. My son prepares to return. And return, he should. He must. As a mother, this part of seasonal shifts hits the hardest. Yet the forest reminds me of the joy in the process of packing him to go. As my heart churns, I know I will fill with joy on the travel with him to school and the unpacking to follow.

Hours have past on this heated midday of August. The sound of machinery hummed distantly. Was everyone pausing?

Except birds. Birds do not pause! I can ramble my thoughts as I track the movements of two young pileated woodpeckers. Fidgety and big, they practice with their bills against trees as well as the old swing set. I have time to just watch them, listen to them, as I wonder about the magic of blending seasons.

Had I never given any credence to the power of subtleties? Had I been listening too greatly to the grumbling anticipation of summer’s end? When is it, that change truly occurs?

With every leaf…

I luxuriate my mind in the subtleties of nature’s changes. I surround myself with the birds and trees. How Blessed I am…

But I wonder at the world. And my wondering isn’t enough. Many nations away and across oceans and seas, lives of populations are changing with violence.

Even though I have known violence in my life, my experience is incomparable to that of a woman or family in Afghanistan. The world calls, does it not?

And managing operations, leading people, producing results and staying healthy power a part of myself I did not recognize.

Both responsibilities tug at ones essence. The world demands answers born of thought.

And I sit today, with admiration of the power of nature’s wisdom in change. With empathy to Haiti’s catastrophic bombardment from nature, I gratefully can look to my forest.

I do not even know how to write about the world. But these subtleties which surround me have also taught me that I should not disregard the power found in the pace of nature’s nuances.

I think I shall enjoy wrapping myself in this path…

Love. Lots of love, Luv.

~tbd