Autumn – Page 8 – twenty-one words

Gladness

June 2, 2016May 15, 2022Posted in anxiety, Australian bush, Autumn, birds, gratitude, native coastal vegetation, native flowers, solace, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged anxiety, birds, gratitude2 Comments

On a windless, clouded afternoon at the end of May,
I go for another bushwalk.
I’m greeted at the start of my walk by one of my favourite native birds,
the kookaburra:

Its laughter echoes through the scrub for the first ten minutes of my walk.
Then comes magpie song:

A kangaroo regards me intently from afar.

The only bush in flower is one whose name I don’t know.
Its flowers grow in tiny, white clusters and smell sweet and rich, like honey.

It’s quiet in the bush,
and I, too, am quietly gladdened for my time there.

Autumn sun

May 12, 2016May 15, 2022Posted in Australian bush, Autumn, native coastal vegetation, native flowers, nature, solace, South Australia, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged autumn, bush, despair, gratitudeLeave a comment

April 2016

In the Northern Hemisphere, they call it Indian summer:
a hot, dry start to Autumn.
That’s what we had here last month —

— warm, sunny days.
Still nights.
No rain.

In the bush,
dry twigs crackled beneath my feet,
and the odd flower bloomed.

Winter stole closer,
like afternoon shadows
creeping across sandy ground.

Daylight robbery

April 7, 2016April 2, 2016Posted in Autumn, birds, South Australia, staying humble, staying true, the beachTagged anxiety, autumn, despair6 Comments

On Saturday afternoon, I went for a quick stroll on the beach,
shoring the sights up in my memory — and the warmth on my skin — of the last hours of Daylight Saving.

It was a typical mid-Autumn day.
Windy.
Half-sunny.
Half-dull.

The sand was wind- and water-rippled.
The gulls’ footprints seemed to blow away as I watched.

Soon, when I walk on the beach, I’ll wear shoes, socks, a coat, a beanie.
I’ll call the wind ‘bracing’.

I’ll think of this last long day of light with yearning.
Summer nostalgia — is there a cure?
There should be!

Note:
Okay, a confession: autumn makes me crotchety. I’ll get over it soon, I swear!

Early Autumn

March 24, 2016March 25, 2016Posted in Autumn, birds, nature, solace, South Australia, staying humble, staying true, summer, What I love about ...Tagged birds, solace3 Comments

Sometimes, in early Autumn, the days become sunny in a way utterly unlike summer.
The mornings are cool.
There’s a brief wave of heat in the afternoon,
before coolness returns with evening.

Grey heron standing in a rockpool 22 March 2016 12.12 pm — Grey heron standing in a rockpool
22 March 2016
12.12 pm

I wish you could hear the sounds accompanying today’s photo.
It was still.
Hot.
Intensely sunny.
I could hear gulls’ legs moving through the water,
and tiny rock-creatures made bubbling noises beneath the surface.

By late April, this weather will vanish,
and the grey skies of Autumn will begin.
You have to treasure these moments, don’t you?
Treasure them.
Treasure them.