Homebodies - Always a new scent, a new scene

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Published on Saturday, October 25, 2014

By Rita Friesen

Tis a gift of balmy days in late October. Some trees have shed all their leaves, some have hints of their fall foliage and others, still glorious gold and red.

The warm days hide the fact that nights are cold and winter is on the way. These blue and gold days have been filled with ‘finish up’ chores. My sister friend tarried on this visit and we delighted in the felling of decaying trees. One bonfire – with accompanying fireworks– cleared the pile of limbs we amassed on her last visit, and it is a noble heap that awaits the next event.

 Garden tasks had been ignored. The carrots are now in protective custody, the white beans ready to be beaten and pea pods garnered for next spring’s seeding. The beets, companion plantings, are still in the soil and ‘we’ need to decide whether to keep or to toss. Corn stalks ready to feed the deer and catch the snow.  Our elder son managed to get the last lawn mowing done. I had been content with the long stems simply bending to cover the earth but have to admit the yard looks better for the time spent on it. The shops have been tidied and the tip bins filled. The septic tank has been pumped. All told, there are only a few winterizing projects left to do. I am content.

 The fact that the home and yard are ready for winter is satisfying. More satisfying, though, is the comfort and contentment that family and friends have extended to me these last few weeks. The sun filled days have provided the perfect opportunity for long walks. Sometimes, as many as 10 of us trekking down the country road. Always, always, in the company of two or three little dogs. The fresh air, the exercise and the chance to chat at leisure brought health and healing. The whisper of the twisting aspen leaves alternately brought us to silence at their sound or prompted deeper conversations. The dance of the walkers and the dogs leashes, twining, spinning and ducking, was wondrous to behold. No matter how many times we walked the same mile there was always a new scent, a new scene, an adventure. The marvel of the growing beaver dam reservoir, the warm red bunches of cranberry and hawthorn fruits, the tracks of wild life, and yes, even the flattened snake remains, filled imaginations and built memories. 

  For many of us, fall is a favourite season. A sense of the completion of a job well done, a sense of well earned rest awaiting, new growth, new hopes, the anticipated promise. Next year country the farmer’s creed. The reality is that to everything there is a season. Fall will pass winter will come. But these days are to be treasured.