Washington: Fall leaves

What's your favorite time of year? 

Without any shade of doubt, I'm a child of the winter and fall months. When the summer heat finally breaks and starts to wane with a chill sliding into the shadows and caressing your bones, blushing your cheeks, fogging your breath, I'm at my happiest. The shade grows longer and colors deepen, taking on more dramatic hues. And so many holidays! With the cold asserting it's claim to the outdoor spaces, there's all the more reason to nestle into a warm and cozy blanket and snuggle or read, or pursue other pursuits best enjoyed indoors on cold, drizzly days. Halloween justifies the purchase of exorbitant quantities of candy, and then consuming them when an underwhelming number of trick-or-treaters comes a'knocking. Then there's Thanksgiving, with its shameless, unabashed glorification of gluttony and all the glories of heaping mounds of deliciousness piled upon groaning plates. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin, pies and cakes and candies galore. It's a feast for the senses, literally and figuratively speaking. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the seasons like to mark their passage with extra flair, with bursts of brilliant oranges and reds and yellows cropping up from the most unlikely of places to shout "FALL!"  

And really, who can blame them? Such opulent beauty should be celebrated, like Marilyn Monroe in her prime. It's all too fleeting in this world, as the rapid passage of fall into the greys of winter and passing of stars in their prime likes to remind us. Many of the most wonderful things about life are incredibly fleeting, gone before we even realize how lucky we are to have them in the first place. The waning of the seasons is an excellent reminder to be mindful, to enjoy the moment while it lasts, because soon it will be an entirely different moment and there's no guarantees of certainty. Storms blow through and rip branches off of otherwise stolid, sturdy trees, and friends or family can fade into the ether before we realize they've gone. Be grateful for who and what you have, while it's there, and enjoy the time you're given. All that cheese, all that jazz, man. 

  

Much love,

💘

XOXO,

NAU