spiced raspberries...

The luxuries of home...I sit here outside in the sun with a cool autumn breeze rustling all the branches and leaves around me.  The sunlight dancing shadows across my page as my pen begins to write.  In this moment I know I made the right choice to come home.  I came for solace and reflection.  I came to have a heart to heart away from my apartment, away from my job, away from the little daily time consuming distractions.

Familiar sounds and sights assail me.  Like the 3 o'clock bugle from the mill, signifying shift change...and knowing as a kid, it meant school was almost out.

I am overwhelmed by the beauty here.  The colors are dancing ripples of green and gold.  The passing of white and grey across the bluest sky-blue sky.  I close my eyes and I can still see the brightness of sunshine and feel it warming the chill from my skin...from my heart...from my mind...it has set my soul free.

I smell the dampness of yesterday's rain, mixed with the sweet spice of the raspberry bushes.  I can catch remnants of our bonfire from two nights ago and breathe in the scent of pine trees and earth.

The grass is all wild from rain and the absence of a mower.  Its green is deep and lush, you can almost taste it.

Birch leaves in the wind sound like the sequins on a showgirl's gown. Tapping and clicking together, shimmering in the fading afternoon light.

The gentle hum of crickets has already begun.  And the faint sounds of tree frogs croaking from their hidden places.

As the sun dips behind a cloud I begin to feel the bite of winter on the air. Like drinking cold, clear water from a spring.  The edge where you begin to ache, but not just yet...