Changing seasons

Like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Yesterday morning, I got up early and decided to take a long walk while the sun came up. I have been a little creatively fu...troubled for the past few months and have not been out with the camera as much as I would have liked. So, I checked the weather, bundled up and headed out in the hopes of finding some photo ops. The second I stepped out, I felt that kind of cold that we can only get in Autumn. You know...that cold that you feel in your bones. It hits you fast and in the split second before you realize that it is damp and chilly, it invigorates you and puts spring in your step. I love that cold. It is the reason I prefer early morning Fall, Early/Late Winter and Spring walks to all others. And the only reason I can ever see for this night owl to be up at 5am. Anyway, after I took a few deep breaths in through my nose and took in the cold, I noticed that the dew covering the ground was almost glistening. Not quite water. Not quite ice. But that stage in between. I stepped on the grass to assure myself that there was not a Crunch to it and started out.

I took my normal path to walk past the grassy park area that I always go by. It is slightly on a hill at one point and you have a clear view of some houses in the far distance and some fields in the immediate distance. That view is sort of my safe place. It is the first glimpse that I get that I am about to go into someplace that is more country than city and my recuperation and mental recentering can happen. It is sort of like a mental cue for me to release everything else and just allow myself to Photograph and see the world my way. Hope to capture something and see what happens. In the Summer, the fields are filled with either cows or rolled hay. The pasture directly on the other side of the walking path has horses in it for the month of July and then stands empty the rest of the year. On the path between the grassy area and the horse pasture, there is a tree. I love that tree. It is one of those things that has so much character to it that, even dead, it is beautiful. I have taken maybe 30 or 40 photos of it at various times. Some I have kept. Most I have tossed. One is more special to me now than ever. While I was looking over the fields yesterday, all I saw was fog. Thick, dense, pea soup fog. And the smell of turning leaves was in the air. It was the kind of transitioning season setting that you relish the first time you see it for the year and then it starts to fade and you start waiting for the new season to kick off. It was also as haunting as it was beautiful and as sad as it was relaxing.

And that leads me to to the point of this rambling blog...

Why do we feel an element of sadness when a season passes even if we cherish the change? I don't wish for Summer back. I welcome the time of renewal and cleansing. It is a happy thing really. A new stage in the cycle. A new time in the year. It always signals a new round of celebration and routine. It brings memories....having fresh pressed apple cider and homemade donuts while bundled up and smelling apples and dried maple leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the smell of a pumpkin being carved and fields of frost. All incredibly happy things. And yet there is still the quiet sadness. The feeling that something is disappearing followed by an urgency to capture it before it fleets away.

I took tons of photos yesterday and walked slower than usual. There were no deer out and about because of the early birds out with their dogs. Dogs and deer do not mix so I was not surprised to not see them. I did hear a few moose speaking loudly to each other. I didn't see them either thankfully since the apples on the ground were fermenting and I had a flash image for the second year in a row (same spot too!) of catching a drunk Moose's fancy while totally engrossed in getting a Mushroom Macro. (I don't even need to tell you how fast that mental image will make one MOVE far and fast away from said area!) For the most part, I just meandered for 3 hours.