Seasoning

I am up very early. I usually get up around 2 A.M. but this morning I am up even earlier. I have already had eight hours of sleep as I went to bed while the Sun was still up. It was so pleasant to lie down in the warming Fall Sun. The good book that I have had a lot to do with the incentive to lie down.
Yesterday started with a trip to the library. A long walk followed. Gazing at the trees and the waterfall brought pleasing thoughts. The trees are still in most of their glory but the black veins and bones of their fingers are beginning to show as the wind is slowly stripping their hands of their bright orange and red of their leaves. It is like an old man's hands, the strength and sinew of youth slowly give way to the veins and knuckles of the denoument.
The season is slowly passing and it will be missed. It is the simplist of times. The scurry of Spring and the labor of Summer are gone and the enduring of Winter is ahead. It is a time for reflection and savoring the year. The air is so attuned to us that we can barely feel it. It is dry but the mist of the waterfall cures that. Only the squirrels are scurrying about as a stroll through town and the fallen leaves seems to leave their peace on the mind and the heart.
The afternoon was spent chickening. Chicken braised in broth then combined with tomatoes, corn, broccoli, onions, pepperoncini, peas, and my new favorite, tumeric. A can of cream of mushroom soup topped it off and the whole was ladled over rice. The tumeric puts the yellow back into the sauce and I am told that it is good for me. So a bellyfull of rice and chicken, the Sun streaming through the bedroom window, and a new adventure to turn the pages of, led to a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.
I am enjoying the simplicity and slowness of the way my life is now. There are concerns but there have always been concerns and they pale before the joy of being alive. In the past they roosted in my mind as it lay down on the pillow but now they have to find another place to roost as I savor the simple joy of a warm blanket in a cool room.
I am on a journey to an unknown destination but I no longer try to steer. I will just look out the window and enjoy the ride. I will accept what life puts on my plate. There will not be a Nobel Prize on the plate or a fascinating novel but there will be rice and chicken and a little tumeric.