Harmony Hill…Where Mountains Meet Magic!

As a transplanted Floridian who is fortunate enough to have been geographically repositioned in an area where I get all four seasons,  it occurred to me today that the seasonal transitions are a bit more interactive than I may have given them credit for.

At least this was what I was thinking as I walked down our half mile long driveway to drop off mail.  Suddenly I stopped…right in the middle of the road and stared down at the ground covered in orange, red, browns and yellows, and began to ponder this thought in more detail.  For sure, each season has a distinct obligation, a practiced response if you will, in announcing itself for the benefit of us poor, dense humans.  For the barely aware, we assume this is,  for the most part,  played out on a visual level.  We know, for example, that when we see snow it is Winter; when we see colorful leaves it is Fall; when we see buds on the trees it is Spring and when we see the growth of Earth’s bounty, basking in the bright warmth of the sun that it is Summer.

Surrounded by Nature as I was, I made an additional mental leap …surely Nature would have been elevated to a much greater task than just a visual display for the benefit of mortals with low awareness levels?

The Universe [my opinion] is a great contingency planner, so it stands to reason that Nature would be in accord with the Master Design Plan….to not only mark the transition of man’s path through time with the ebbing and flowing of seasons but, and here’s the great part, to deploy this in such a way that this passage of time would be identifiable and verifiable by said mere mortals on every level bestowed them!  Clever Universe…it would never assume that one’s eyes alone would always be available to translate to the brain that one season had begun as one ended.

So, I closed my eyes and the first level of awareness to kick in was smell.  I could smell the crispness in the air, the slight odor of leaves as they began to decay. I could smell the earthy, yet fragrant smell that only Autumn has.  Opening my eyes, I reached up to catch a falling leaf and felt it in my hand noticing how it was crisp and crunchy.  I now possessed an acknowledgment on three levels of awareness instead of just the one.

Stop for a moment and think of the different acknowledgments Nature gives to herald each passing and arriving season….this is exactly what I did.  I stood there and realized that Nature doesn’t care if we’re visually impaired, have no sense of smell or taste and could care less if we can feel with our fingers or toes…the only way a human could miss Nature’s seasonal clues is if your body were no longer in proximity to what was happening around you.

I had two other levels of awareness with which to experience this fabulous Fall of 2009, so I walked briskly back to my yurt. I poured and savored the flavor of fresh pressed apple cider as I tasted Fall and then I listened to the sound of leaves falling like rain on the yurt roof ….and I knew I was experiencing my last available level of awareness…the Leaves are Leaving….it is clearly, at all levels, Fall.

Jana

Stumble it!

Trackback URI | Comments RSS