Colours

This has been the most stretched out fall I can remember having in Saskatchewan. Some trees have lost their leaves, but many are in full brilliance.  Recently I drove down 8^th Street and the elms sang with colour.  I thought of the winter just around the corner – shades of white, grey and black – and it occurred to me that the symphony of fall hues is for us to drink in, store up and savour, like well aged wine, when we are in the doldrums of cold and monochrome.

Not every fall is like this, but certainly this one is giving us plenty of time to absorb warmth, brightness and good memories.  I still have a pale blue delphinium late blooming in my garden and here and there around the city you can see other flowers still showing.

Colours have meanings and affect us in different ways – during this season yellow and gold and red mean joy and also a last show of brilliance before the end of warmth.

We don’t have quite the varied brilliance of eastern Canada – no great swaths of maples or oaks but what we do have is satisfying in its own way.

I’m going out once again to walk and drink it all in.