Crisp evening air, good sleeping, and clear mornings.
These are the morsels of autumn that brighten my mood and
put fresh looks on my day. Out in Temperance farm country, I
also get the opportunity to enjoy the animals and flowers that
happen on our homestead.
My role in the morning is “chuckwagon.” Smokey, our
indoor cat whose shape reminds me more of a pumpkin, wakes
me before the alarm with meows of hunger. Not that she’s
starving – I actually had to build a wagon to make her go outside
for any exercise. Three other stray cats – whom I named Spanky,
Sam, and Stubby – mill around the back door, and then wind
around me like leg warmers, happily anticipating the rattle of
catfood. Makes me feel like a waiter at the Cat Café.
Stubby’s little still-pink stub of a tail must be a story in
itself. I’ve tried several times to approach him to put a salve on
its end without success. Was he the victim of a slammed screen
door or vicious, mean-spirited torment? Or was it a squall with
another, wilder varmint?
But Stubby now gets his cat yummies every morning, in a
setting where a multitude of birds sing and fuss at birdfeeders,
dropping seeds so dozens of sunflowers sprout under the arbor
and morning glories weave woven sky blue blossoms up the
flower stems. Bees and butterflies compete with the
hummingbirds for the nectar, and past them the morning sun
peeks over the pines on the creek bank. He has probably forgotten
how or why he’s missing his tail.
Like Stubby, we all have our injuries that need salving.
But also like Stubby we must remember to forget our own tails
and enjoy the moment as new days create harmonies waiting
for our attention. Every autumn is another season of harmony:
harvests come in, animals burrow deeper, and new woodlands
are planted with dropping foliage, seeds, and nuts. My good
mood is brightened knowing change and something new is
happening with each fresh season. Our interdependence in this
newness is a bonus.