In case you missed it, here’s a visual reminder of this season’s beauty – a tour of the fall garden.

Through that front door was a Friendsgiving feast, but outside that door was a fall wonderland. Vines climbed stone walls, majestic purples lingered in spite of the gray skies, and the leaves painted everything in a warm wash. A beautiful collaboration between the green thumbs at Hallowed Ground Homestead and mother nature herself.

This fall seemed to linger much longer than in past years. Some combination of temperatures and precipitation gifted a much-needed grace period, a little extra time to stop, pause, and appreciate the beauty of it all. Summer felt unsettled, both personally and globally, as the world navigated uncertain times, but fall felt like an antidote. (Have you heard of the “Pandemic Flux Syndrome?”)

Fall gifted me with grounding. Walking Julep on the same loop, in the same park, I noticed subtle changes. I noticed the way a break in the trees framed a valley of color. I noticed the turquoise sky the day the leaves started raining down slowly, one by one.

I noticed the way a ginkgo tree shed an island of yellow in a sea of red. I heard the crunch of drying leaves underfoot. I noticed as the wind picked up, and the walk felt brisker. The cold reddened my cheeks and snapped me from soured moods.

Walking is a meditative process, and fall felt like my spiritual guide, a warm hug helping me to transition to the coming winter’s rest, quiet, and stillness.