*Lyrics from 1,2,3’s Lonesome Boring Summer off their album New Heaven. They’re my new Local Natives. I’m so grooving on this sound right now. Hope you like them.

Autumn in New England can be spectacularly beautiful – bright, boldly colored leaves drift through the air as the trees molt into their naked winter selves, surrounded by warm sunshine-filled afternoons, followed by chilly evenings and early morning frosts. But it can also teeter toward the depressing… day after day the light slips away, darkening the already dulled landscape not yet illuminated by the cast of white snow that winter usually deposits and leaves there for month after month. Autumn slips into winter almost unnoticed as one holiday (Thanksgiving) is replaced by the almighty holiday of holidays (Christmas). And while I love a good fairy light (or twinkle light, or whatever you want to call them) I also love autumn, including the darkening, the hibernation-like feeling, beckoning a time of reflection and contemplation. Of course gratitude is also a focus of fall – gratitude for family and friends, for the life we lead, for the harvest, for the earth, for the process.

Having just had a birthday (which are not really fun after the age of about 9 if you ask me), having just spent some wonderful quality time with family and friends (which ended too soon), and having friends’ tales of loss (two friends lost their mothers this year alone) simmering in my mind I guess I’m not feeling very twinkly, or very winter holiday ready. I’m still on autumn, and the melancholy that comes with it. Sometimes you just need to be there for a while before you can get to the sparkle place.

So, for now (until I get back some home improvement and design energy), I thought I’d share some photos of a recent walk Jeff and I took to the Quabbin. It wasn’t sunny. It wasn’t particularly warm or cold. It wasn’t colorful. It was typical for fall – gloomy, still, and contemplative. So, whatever you’re feeling right now, during what can be a very overwhelming season, remember to reflect on your gratitude, and be okay with wherever you are (including in the dumps). Just like autumn, the world will not look like this forever. And just like autumn, you can find beauty if you look around. Enjoy! xoxo