Equinox

Muskoka Ontario – Old steamer plying it’s way through cottage countr-

The Druids are singing and dancing at Stone Henge, the Koreans are celebrating with a feast and even Google got in the act with an equinox doodle.   It is the fall equinox for those of who live in the Northern Hemisphere and that means it is the day that night is as long as the day.

Here in Canada we are about two weeks away from our fall festivals (aka Thanksgiving) but I believe most of us celebrate the fall equinox with a minute or two of gazing at the beauty around us.  We live in a land full of natural colour and in the fall we celebrate that colour with great pride and gusto.

The warm colours of fall are everywhere.  Bright yellows and reds on the maples.  Orange pumpkins and golden corn stalks.  In our own way we are also holding as tightly as we can to warmth of the sun and the rich colours help hold that warm feeling.  We watch the changes in colour with each day until the leaves all hit the ground and we are left with evergreens and the brown which precedes the white of winter.

Here in Ontario and across the country the sound of combines hum through the night as corn, soya beans and wheat find their way from field to storage.  In our area the tobacco is almost all picked and the apples are being picked for the winter store.  An occassional field filled with pumpkins always makes me smile.  They seem to hide until September and then suddenly there they are all orange and smirking among the yellowing vines.

In the mornings these days I have the great privelege to watch sun rises through the fog. The warm earth and the cooler air meet the morning with waves of earth bound clouds creating mystical, magical looking skies.

Fall also brings our annual fair to Norfolk County and that is something I love.  The smell of horses and candy floss all in one breath is like nothing else.  It happens around Thanksgivng too so it is often a homecoming type event.  (More about that after I get there).

Our friends in the Southern Hemisphere are having their own equinox today but it is their harbinger of spring.  Spring or Fall, no matter where you were today the light and dark are equal and that only happens two times a year.  Enjoy.