Just like that, summer falls into September.
As we welcome September, shades of violet are all around me. It is as though violet is the color of summer's end. The lushness and vivid green of the trees and all the leaves everywhere are dying down, and flecks of golden brown are scattered on the grass nearly everywhere I turn. There isn't much color right now in nature where I call home, autumn's glory is still being anticipated. But, if I pay attention and look down and n o t i c e...there it is. Little bits of violet here and there. If I don't really choose to slow down and notice it, I will miss it. And then when I find it, oh, what a gift it is. Violet, the color of summer's end. At least to me and my heart. I noticed this to be true during our first year at Shady Cottage. In our other home, bright, vivid, hot pink was the color of summer's end. It seems as though the end of summer chooses to present itself in a variety of colors and hues depending on the plants, flowers, and weeds...or as I call them, nature's hidden gems, that are near you. Perhaps the color of summer's end for you is green or pink or yellow or red or any color of the rainbow. For me, though, right here at Shady Cottage, it is violet. And I, for one, am not complaining, for violet is one of the colors that I love most. Seeing it always makes me happy and peaceful and yet, excited with eager anticipation, too. For I know, that when I see little bits of violet scattered around our garden, autumn is surely on the way. But not before summer gives us one last bit of magic.
September's skies are so full of justifiable melancholy,
with summer's end and autumn's anticipating,
creating a bittersweet moment.
~ Unknown
Reader friend, might I encourage you to slow down and choose to really look and n o t i c e the last bit of summer's beauty around you. It may mean looking up and finding some magic there, or it may mean looking down, sometimes even kneeling down and poking around a bit, and discovering some sort of hidden gift there. But it is there, I promise you that. Finding the color of summer's end near you is nature's gift to you. It is the earth speaking to you and saying that there is always some bit of beauty and magic and wonder if you would just slow down and no t i c e.
When you discover the color of summer's end near you, I invite you to come back here and tell me all about it...I'd love to hear about Mother Nature's gift to you as we begin to bid summer farewell and prepare to welcome autumn in.