November 4th, 2012 5:22 p.m.
(had my mother lived this long she would have been 100! Happy Birthday, Mom!)
It is not yet 5:30 and the chickens
are already shut in for the night. Just now the Western sky is illuminated by
the last presence of a brilliant orange light filtering through the branches.
The trees are suddenly devoid of leaves, the result of the changing light,
falling temperatures and, of course, Hurricane Sandy who was just making landfall barely one week ago.
This time of year – with the light
fading so silently and so early in the evening- I feel myself cascading down into a warm womb encased by the
dark. Turning my gaze inward, I find
myself introspective. The world in front of the eyes is stark, perhaps to some
it appears bleak, yet inside the hearth fires are burning, creating a warm
welcome to come and sit a spell, to reminisce, to travel inward to retrieve and acknowledge the harvest, the
jewels of the year. It is a time for gathering and reckoning – what have we
gained and what have we lost? What needs keeping 'hold of and what needs letting
go? This is an important exercise for this time of the year, this end of day
light savings.
What needs keeping hold of? Well, for one thing, I have come 'round to the desire to re-engage with my blog, to share some of my writing(s) as well as some of the jewels I have discovered this year, 2012: articles, books,poems, (some my own, some by other)s, portions of journal entries, links, recipes, my own thoughts about this and that, in other words, Notes from the Garden and Other Thoughts.
I turned 60 this past April. In Chinese Medicine this turning (12 X 5 as in 5 seasons of the year with Late Summer being it's own season) is a very important event. For those of us turning 60 this year it is the year of the "Water Dragon". (more on this later). I decided to take this occasion of turning 60 seriously and put alot of thought into what this birthday means to me and what I want the next phase of mylife to look like. Over the next several months I intend to share what I've discovered with the hope that what has turned up for me will be beneficial to you.
For now I leave you with the words from Thich Nhat Hahn's Peace Is Every Step.
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment!
