[Seasons: Autumn I]
There are distinct changes when autumn arrives to the farm. Some things are obvious: the sun rises a bit later and dusk descends earlier, the garden is equal parts weeds and vegetables, the grass is noticeably brown (admittedly a PNW phenomenon), and the Big Leaf maples have a tinge of yellow in their leaves. Some traits of autumn are less visibly obvious, but the "seasonal sense" we’ve developed over millions of years of living *with* the seasons tells us the earth is tilting and change is immanent.
There’s a quality to the air that changes. Because the sun is out for fewer hours and it’s lower in the horizon, it doesn’t heat up the landscape as much. So, the sun may register a certain temperature on the thermometer, but the goosebumps on our skin has a different reading. The thermal temperature of the ground, the large conifers, and the farm house is much lower and therefore put off less heat. Wind gusts increase from the calm of summer, the dew level heightens, humidity slightly increases, but the rains have not yet returned. All this gives the air a “denser" quality. Our bodies can sense it.
The sun’s rays “transform" in autumn. Sure, on a color wheel, they may register the same, but how they “interact” with the world changes. At a lower angle in the sky, the sun refracts differently off the leaves and blades of grass, it reveals different aspects of the forest, and casts different shaped and sized shadows. The sun doesn’t change colors but it reveals a whole new palette of hues. Our eyes experience a different landscape and our bodies feel the difference.
There is so much our bodies observe and know that our contemporary minds don’t compute. Slow down and listen to the intelligence center that is your physical body. It carries in it generation upon generation of insights.
