unrivalled, my favorite time of year.
It is a month of contrasts for me.
The joy of Autumn.
Leaf-strewn country roads, leaves falling as I drive with the top down, deep colors in the forests, tobacco hanging in aging barns, hay waiting in long fields and orchards full with ripe, red apples.
These are the joyous things that lift me high and make me feel as free as the raptors migrating along the spine of my beloved Clinch Mountains.
The sad parts have a say, but they are muted; dulled by the magnificence of Mother Nature as she concedes, under the watchful eye of Father Time, her reign to Old Man Winter.
Time, which has no regard for anyone, will pass without fail or regard to any of us.
The voice of things past becomes harder to hear as years go by.
That, in and of itself, is a good thing.
If I stumble and fall over what is in the past, then it’s not possible to say that I have moved on, adapted, regained my balance.
I could wallow in what can’t be undone, but to what purpose?
I could brood (I’ve been told that I brood in the fashion of my Irish and Scottish ancestors).
And sometimes, I do, simply because I feel like brooding.
During those times, I throw breakable things at breakable things and have completely awesome meltdowns that leave me purged, yet restless.
Most often, however, I just go with it.
Time doesn’t care about me, mine, you or yours.
It simply passes, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
I’m claiming this October for myself.
Not for what I’ve lost, but for what it is.
My favorite time of year.
A peaceful, easy feeling.
That, for the here and now, is how I intend to roll.
A Photographer's Heart 