I am glad for autumn. Glad for the breezes that cleanse the smoke from the sky. Glad to enjoy cooler mornings on the back patio with my coffee. I am so glad the fires that clouded our summer skies are burning out and the firefighters will soon mop up and go home to their families. I am glad that school has resumed and the grandchildren have launched into another year of learning and growing, making friends and discovering new interests and passions. I love autumn most of all the seasons.

Autumn is a time of shedding leaves and the malaise of summer, of harvesting and putting up, of changing direction and letting fresh ideas whisper life into slumbering daydreams. It is a time to prepare for winter’s challenges and darker days. I love the changing colors of autumn that herald the soon coming of my favorite holidays and the promise of cozy evenings in front of the fire. Autumn’s colors are my colors…orange and amber, bronze and brown, red and yellow.

When the last autumn leaves have fallen and the barrenness of winter descends, newly written thoughts will be pondered and polished. Autumn’s colors having birthed inspiration and pleasure in the putting down of thoughts on this screen and into my stories, will have done their job. And as I write through the winter months, I pray for my words to have meaning that offers help, hope and joy to others.