cloudy and cool

Fall is here. Cloudy and cool today with rain and we do need it. Many are griping about the cold but it is my element. I love the bright golds yellows and reds of the trees as they begin to go dormant. Their defiant colors proclaim that life may slow but it does not always end. Besides there is enough of the puritan in my that like Lowell the pearl grey skies and streams of the season. Often think I should be on New England"s granite like coastline with the sea hitting the shore; not even the slightest desire for the balmy one weather locations available in the USA and the world. Fall brings flannel sheets, crockpot meals, hot chocolate,knitting and good books. It used to bring snuggling kids but they have grown flown and are snuggling with their own nestlings such is the pattern of life. this a season of recollection,and reflection. It is a slower paced life than the rush of summer and a respite before fierce winter storms besiege us with their howling blinding fury. we need this time every year and those years that are the fall of our life itself. Even He had a seventh day of rest. For me fall is a productive season. I feel more alert, more interested in creating things, more alive in total. Even winter does not slow me down much though it may impede travel. I can always get warm and add more clothes but I can only remove so many in the summer. Do not want to scare the neighbors. I am at the fall of my life and in many ways I am parading my colors. Life forces are slowing but still flowing. My students keep the sap flowing. I also seem to have become a mentor of sorts for some people I value for their friendship. Maybe I am the elder sage in the tribe? If so, it is not a bad place to be.