When Autumn turned to Winter…

So the seasons actually did kind of change overnight for once. With the storms raging across the South in the middle of last week, we saw winds of up to 60 mph here and huge thudding droplets of rain lashing against the roof. For the leaves on the trees is was their last moments of clinging on, before making that final whirlgig journey to the ground.

At the weekend, as we headed out for our walk, there was a real sense of space in the trees, cold, empty branches, big patches of sky in the woods, where before there’d been a leafy canopy.

The wind was still puttering about, while the sun was fighting its way through the clouds – and it felt for certain that the season were shifting again.

But the woods and the pathways were still as beautiful as always – in the own bleak, barren way. I love this shot of the valley just below our house, these two lone trees are such a marker for us of the time of year – so green and bold in the summer, so stricken and tough in the winter…

“When all the world appears to be in a tumult, and nature itself is feeling the assault of climate change, the seasons retain their essential rhythm. Yes, fall gives us a premonition of winter, but then, winter, will be forced to relent, once again, to the new beginnings of soft greens, longer light, and the sweet air of spring.”