Thanksgiving

There really isn't another holiday on the calendar quite like Thanksgiving. I know that we Canadians probably co-opted it from the American extravaganza but it is one of my favourites. It isn't particularily religious, anyone from long time Canadians to the newest immigrants can celebrate the harvest, a bountiful table and being together with family. It isn't fraught with all the expectations and excesses of Christmas or even Halloween. You don't have to buy gifts or make a costume or hide eggs. You just prepare wonderful food to eat and enjoy, go for a walk or two in the crisp fall air and wonder at the brightness of all the colours.

I don't think there is ever a time in the year that I find the colour of the sky, the leaves or the water clearer. It is as if the Earth turns up the contrast for it's last hurrah before it settles into the greys and browns of November and then the whiteness of winter.

I could never live in a place without the change in seasons. Just when I am getting sick of my summer clothes along comes fall with its cozy sweaters, leather boots and jean jackets. Then we hunker down in our winter coats, not to be seen uncovered again until that first glorious day in spring when the thermometer pushes up out of the single digits and suddenly everyone is in shorts and t shirts even though it is still freezing in the mornings. I know that I have S.D.D. (Seasonal Deficit Disorder) I tire quickly of too much of the same weather, whether it be hot and humid, cold and damp or bright and clear. I am always ready for a change, even for a rainy, dark day when you can't get out and do much of anything so you can just sit inside and read by the fire or putter around the house with nothing particular in mind.

I love fall because it is usually the shortest season. I was married in the fall, surrounded by the colours of the trees and the brilliant blue sky. I love it because even though I know that every day is getting shorter and the mornings are darker and soon the kids will come home from school and the street lights will be on that there is Halloween and the big build up to Christmas to look forward to.

So for now I will enjoy going out in a sweater without a coat and looking at the blue, blue bay and watching my garden slowly put itself to bed. And I feel like maybe it is a sign that the world needs to slow down and rest for a while so we can all rejuvinate ourselves for whatever lies ahead.