It’s most definitely Autumn here in Sydney now.
A beautiful albeit wet summer has come to an end and the days are getting shorter, the evenings are dark earlier and daylight savings hasn’t even ended yet. I love that sensation of moving from one season to another. There is definitely a change in the air, but it’s slow enough to make preparations for it. Slowly the warm winter clothes are moving from the back of the wardrobe to the front. The summer deep golden tans on Bondi has started to fade to a lighter bronze. Salads and green smoothies are being swapped for soups and hot teas.
I’m loading my external hard drive up with movies to watch, my bedside table is filling with new books and a big trip to Officeworks is planned to stock up on notebooks, stationary and pens to keep this creative little minx with ample opportunities to allow her art to spill forth.
Although I infinitely cherish the summer months, there is a settling quietness to the cooler times of the year which allow us to hibernate, culminate and let our ideas form. It is the perfect time to create a new plan, one that can be planted to blossom and grow in the Spring. I don’t feel the impetuous urge to attend every social event that crops up and rather find an endearing indulgence in sharing my time with those that I am already close to and that bring so much wealth into my life experience.
It is the season to spend more time with a lover, to touch and tantalise and cuddle and curl up amongst mounds of feather down pillows and duvets and snuggle and read and philosophise about the meaning of life and love and why sea shells make the noise they do when you hold them to your ear, and quarrel about whose turn it is to get up and make another pot of tea.
Then there are those of you who are welcoming Spring with open arms. Ready to shake off the heaviness of icy cold toes and fingers and layers upon layers of clothing and to just be able to be free and move and breathe without tiny little icicles dripping from the tips of your noses.
You’ve seen more than enough of your lover, watched every film you own at least thrice and are ready to roll out the latest project, unravel 5 months worth of knitting and dance off the recent indulgences in sweet pastries and hot chocolates that have been brightening the grey and weary winter’s days. Your energy levels are pulsating and ready to be let off the chain, your creative juices are flowing and you want to embrace life, live it, move out from within the hibernation cave and breathe again amongst the birds and the trees and the blossoms that are peeking their little buds out to greet the sun’s rays.
Whilst I’m shading down the summer brights with more subtle earthy colours, soft knits and subdued shades of white, black and grey, you are pulling out your floral miniskirts and off-the-shoulder tops to pair with stockings in excited expectation for the warmer days. Out comes the skin baring sheer complicated fabrics that we call dresses which I am carefully folding and hiding away.
We are moving with the seasons of life. Change. And all that it encompasses.
