Autumn in Gatineau

I first came to North America in late September, early autumn, so this time of year holds a special place in my heart. Although since then we haven't made it down to New England to see the colours, each year we do take a day and make a special excursion to soak ourselves in the glory. And this year has been my most spectacular so far. Partly, I think, this is because we have all the colours resplendent at once. Here's a glimpse:

After that first visit, I took my photos to be developed back in South Africa. You know what happened? To my great disappointment, they modified them, disbelieving that such reds, oranges and yellows could possibly be true!

Rhythms of Life

We've been in our present house for five years this month. As it was then, we have tomatoes in the garden. Otherwise, thanks to my husband, our little patch looks quite different.

Back in South Africa, when we were about to sell our Constantia home in order to go and live on the farm, our estate agent told us that five years is the average people stay in a house before moving. That may be different today, and of course she was referring to a certain demographic. I'm not going to go and google it. 'Snuf for my purpose.

One of these days we'll have to downsize. But not just yet.

Five years also, I've heard, is the rhythm of a marriage. This makes sense to me, for why else do we have 25 as silver, and 50 as gold? I wish I'd taken more notice of this timing over the years to sense what changes, developments and growth might have taken place in my relationship with my husband.

Seven years I believe is the rhythms of our individual life. The wise and wonderful Shakespeare told of this in Twelth Night 'At first the infant' etc. Certainly, I've had milestones happen around these times. 

How about you?

The examined life, you know?

What's up with Wednesday?

Whew! How the days go by. And the months, and the waxing and waning of the moon.

Recently, I've been thinking about Wednesdays. Seems to me it's getting a bad rap. More and more often I hear it referred to as 'hump' day. You know, that's not my experience at all. By Wednesday I'm really settling into the week and happy to be taking hold of my work, and my life in general for that matter.

Maybe that's because I'm a mercury person.

"Huh?" I hear you respond.

Well, according to astrology, Mercury is my ruling planet.

In the Latin languages, Wednesday is connected with the planet Mercury, as in mercoledi, and mercredi, for example. Mercury is an interesting influence, hard to catch hold of and many sided, but the one I like to deal with is that of communication. I interpret this as meaning it's a good day to communicate with others, whether it be face to face, phone-wise, web-wise or story-wise.

So, for a good day today, forget Woden the old Norse god and his warlike aspect (even if he's also connected with magic and poetry acc to Wiki). Rather go with Mercury. Move and communicate!