It’s really beginning to feel like fall all of a sudden around here. The beach fog rolls in, in the morning, it’s much cooler throughout the day than it’s been, it’s getting darker earlier and I’m just feeling that shift in season. Today I spent the day cleaning house, getting out some fallish items, putting away some of the bright, light summer colors and replacing them with richer, deeper tones. I dusted, I vacuumed, I lit candles throughout the house, all while wearing my first pair of socks for the season. This to me was soulful. I find preparing for the new season something peaceful and welcoming to the soul.
This past week I’ve been
reading : this that I got in the mail this week. Loved this piece on books. And joined an online book club where we will be discussing the first chapter of this parenting book tomorrow.
moving; practicing my physical therapy/Pilates exercises every day. Ellie thinks I’m being silly and enjoys crawling all over me while I do this.
writing: I’ve been wanting to try this for a while now and finally after reading this post, I signed up. I’m hoping it will enhance my soulful journey and help me develop and strengthen my creative writing. I’m freaking out about it just a little bit.
meditating: this has still been difficult for me to do every day, but this week I’ve been taking daily walks with Ellie and sometimes when (if) she falls asleep, I work on listening and concentrating on my breath as I walk and shut out the rest of the world. Not quite the meditation practice I had in mind when I started this thing, but hey, I’m a Mama and I guess you could call it my Mama Meditations.
I’ll leave you with a poem, for, tonight is the harvest moon!
RIDING ON THE HARVEST MOON by Annette Bromley
The days are growing shorter
and cold weather is coming soon
as autumn arrives in gala dress
riding on the harvest moon.
The harvest moon, pale amber orb
in the late September sky
smiles down on a bountiful earth
and bids summertime good-bye.
The oaks all wear carnelian crowns
in a forest gowned red and gold
where crickets chant by the moonlight
Fields and orchards yield plenty now,
days still warmed by a gentler sun;
Now is the time to gather in
for soon ice and snow will come
and sooner will be the days of sticks,
fields, once gold, soon turn to dun.
Wild flocks are singing their farewells.
We’ll soon hear the last song of the loon.
The geese will soon be flying south
across the harvest moon.
It is the season of the Harvest Moon,
that pale amber orb of light
smiling down on a bountiful earth
on these late September nights.
Now is the time to gather in.
The fields and forest are ripe
And abundant now for harvest;
The apples are red, the pumpkins gold
And the harvest moon is in the sky
And the nights are growing cold.
The days are growing shorter.
Winter’s night is coming soon.
Autumn has come in gala dress
riding on the harvest moon…
And she is chanting out her warning
upon the autumn breeze
as she twirls and dances for awhile
among the falling autumn leaves.
summerplayshouse 
Lovely. It felt like fall here today, too. There was a slight chill and dampness in the air before it finally warmed up a bit in the afternoon, there are colorful, crisp leaves on the ground already, and it was too cold in the morning to keep the windows open past getting up.
I love the change in seasons. Soulful, indeed.
I see you under the tree, which makes me smile.
xoxo
Very nice as it should be in our souls, still, I think of the dreariness of the even darker days we have here, shorter days and long nights, yet that is the way it is, and summer was long and lovely, so yes, I will join you in your daily routine and slow down a bit as the changes come and enjoy it all in a different way.(But dang, you find the neatest things to put on your table, that great blue cutout vase and handleless mugs.)
That purple pillow in the corner of the room was something I found at a yard sale a few weekends ago. It reminded me of something that would be in your home Gramma and so of course I snatched it up right away. It has a lovely southwest quality to it that you had in your home as well.
those vases and mugs are from estate and yard sales too… I’m a yard sale addict. 🙂
i also said good bye to sandals and welcome to socks 😦 fall’s here, it’s not that i don’t enjoy this period, is just that summer started too late…
dreamy poem by the way!
I liked the poem too. I was googling harvest moon and learning more about it when I stumbled upon the poem. It was exactly as I had been feeling and had to include it in my post. Thank you for visiting!
i was so relieved when the clouds cleared last night and i was able to see that beautiful harvest moon!
love that you call it soulful september, couldn’t agree more! september is always the time of year when i feel my spirit is full.
and so glad i’ll get to work with you in the course – it is such fun for me and always so inspiring to see others settling into their own writing practice.
We never did get to see the moon last night even with our late night walk in the wrap. Fog had rolled in and stayed. 😦 I’m very excited to take your course and very much looking forward to it.
ps: sharing this on my fb page. hope you don’t mind 🙂
So good.
Love that fog rolling in…
this is all so beautiful. i am so glad you are taking Amanda’s course. makes me all sorts of happy. there is a gift for all of us in her course, an opening up of words, giving voice to our memories, our colors, the small spaces we carve out in our day to day. I love a soul-filled september too. xxoo PS. thanks for the kind mention.
Lovely poem. We too are experiencing the first bits of fall and loving it.