Shhhh, I think we should be quieter now that the sun has lost its strength for a while........the days are noticeably shorter, & the trees in my garden have kindly decided it is time to brighten things up a bit, now that the flowers are fading away.......
Listen children: whilst I wasn't looking, & as the cold rain moistened the soil, another hoard of faery folk must have moved in. There are now so many little toadstools everywhere, I suspect it has become a faery metropolis around here. They just move in quietly when you least exp
ect them, then there's that special feeling - something is different....... Oh, they are secretive indeed!Whilst I stir my fire & keep myself warm inside my house, they enchant my garden......
At night I have heard the foxes barking, & possums munch loudly amongst the tree tops. Daytime caroling currawongs & magpies rule the air, whilst kookaburras sit quietly, waiting for a fat worm to appear in the wet grass. King parrots & rosellas come to my window begging some seed, which I must give in my hand, lest the greedy cockatoos chase them off. In the valley below, I hear the sylvan song of the resident lyrebird. I can't imagine how anyone could feel lonely in this place. These wild animals are so familiar & interact with such trust & gentleness. There are wallaby, deer & wombats that are very shy, & usually only venture out at night. I wish people would drive more slowly. Much of the time these creatures are only noticed when their bodies are left on the side of the road after they have been hit by cars. We need to remember the bush moves more slowly than a car........
Under the cover of darkness & a blanket of leaves, there is much activity that I believe will become apparent when Spring graces the garden once again, but for now, it's quietly, softly, gently....don't disturb the damp soil too much or you will spoil its structure......let it be a bit wild, the trees making lace for the soft, velvety darkness of Winter...........
This week I've been raking mountains of golden leaves, which seem to cover everything constantly. I don't mind at all. They are beautiful in colour as well as form, & they smell wonderful. The Autumn smells always take me back in time, to playing as my parents worked their own beloved garden, then moving forward in time, to when my own children were the ones playing, & I was the one working. It was hard yakka then, but the now memories have softened. I look at these children, now grown into fine men, & know it was a good life for them. I feel at peace with my life, as my own rhythm slows with the declining light.
Much seems to be brewing over this time. There are 4 new projects in my sphere of knowing this week. I wonder which ones will come to fruition? As this is the traditional time of incubation, I am happy to mull & muse & dream over them all. The ones that manifest will be the strong ones. It's interesting to me that all of these projects involve other people. In previous years, I tried to manifest projects alone, & only a few came to light, due to my fluctuating enthusiasm, or lack of confidence. I will be interested to see what happens with this year's batch. Sharing responsibility & a renewed focus upon community may mean I have the pleasure of participating in something wonderful, rather than feeling as if I must make everything I've dreamed up a big success! I do believe people need each other as much as ever they did. The world is feeling bigger every day, yet it means so much for each person to be appreciated as an individual, rather than fade into the blur of faces in a crowd. Hmmmm, hence blogging, I suppose!
I have been drawing, so something's going well. I'm knitting more stripey socks as too. I like to make things from waste yarn. It's challenging to make the colours sing in harmony, although I do cheat & use purchased yarn to "tie it together". Recycling yarn from opp. shops into warm snuggly socks & gloves makes me feel virtuous, as I'm making good use of resources, but it also makes me feel nurtured, as I can create beautiful things with a huge variety of colours & textures.
The wind today is very blustery, & I must get this blog into cyberspace before the power goes off due to falling branches. Until next time,
Blessings of Winter's Velvety Softness
