Assessing my autumn’s garden, in mid-October,  I see the fuchsia  apparently enjoys fall weather as much as it did spring’s.

That I kept it live through summer astonished me and pleased me. 

Daily watering really can keep plants alive! 

The lantana still blooms; I love its fragrance.  That too has prospered in the recent cooler days. 

The marigolds, though, are a wee bit scraggily. The lush ferns are past their prime. Some mums are emerging and  while the geraniums are hanging in there,  the beds look like they will welcome their winter-nap. 

Hail, old October, bright and chill,
First freedman from the summer sun!
Spice high the bowl, and drink your fill!
Thank heaven, at last the summer’s done!
~Thomas Constable (1812–1881), “Old October”

How fast this year has slowly gone.  

Outside my autumn’s garden, the times bewilder one who is familiar with Potomac Fever. 

National and international discord and natural disasters have escalated; especially when the President of the United States drops the A-word.    

Chalk it up to entering my second childhood — but I have no clue how Americans or the world can sort itself out. 

Once upon a time . . . I thought I did. (Proverbs 29:20)

 [She]  was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear [her] crow. ~George Eliot, Adam Bede

Today remains a time when I shouldn’t attend every argument to which I am invited — half the time (MOST of the times) I don’t even understand how people can be arguing about what they do! 

I choose to remember — where I am: on the right side of the sod, albeit in crazy inside down times, when life could turn on a dime.  

Next to faith this is the highest art — to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet. — Martin Luther* 

 Continuing to read  about the Roosevelt White House, No Ordinary Time, reminds me to quit looking for ordinary times.     

So, just for today,  I will repair to a favorite campsite,  Psalm 131.  I also will get out and take a walk—admire the remains of my autumn’s garden and practice a little gratitude.

The bright summer had passed away, and gorgeous autumn was flinging its rainbow-tints of beauty on hill and dale. ~Cornelia L. Tuthill, “Virginia Dare: Or, the Colony of Roanoke,” 1840

Denial, despair and grieving are all part of the many emotions we process towards acceptance.
~ Graham Weeks 

And— it’s time to paint winter pansies! 

*Closets, Contentment and Christmas