Autumn is in full swing here in North East Victoria, Australia, deep in the Warburton valley. White cockatoos screech, tree ferns are giant and the Yarra River or Birrarung meanders through our daily doings, ever present, filled with life, the sunshine glistening on the water as it trickles over rocks and fallen trees, ducks living their best lives and the river flows on just like life…
All the colours of the autumn rainbow are in the foreign trees that are planted around the town, the oaks, maples, Japanese maples and elms are lovely despite that they don’t really belong. Sometimes I feel like a foreign tree in my own country, actually I have felt like this for most of my life, a deep ingrained sense of not belonging to this country, as a non-indigenous Australian. It always feels like I’m just staying for a while, or visiting…but aren’t allowed to really belong…which is quite strange but also not..maybe one day I will feel like I truly belong and maybe here in Victoria I do a little more as each year passes by. A topic that needs much more exploration, but for now I feel like an autumn tree..
The cold air has arrived but the days are still sunny, and unusually dry for this time of year. The wood fire is on most days and I’m consuming more cups of tea than I wish to count, just to warm my bones up from the inside, as we swiftly approach the descent into winter…
Soups are more frequent on the dinner menu and less salads and cold things, although my child still wants an ice cream most weekends…she’s becoming a true southerner, you know the kind that wear t-shirts and shorts in the depth of winter..that will be her one day.
As the afternoon light visits the front steps, I rejoice in sitting in the sunshine. The kookaburras decide to put on an afternoon sing-song which fills the bush in all directions..the quintessential sound of this country.
Finding solace in the seasons, and letting our daily rhythms dance along with nature, not pushing against it, just feeling the inward turning going on in my body as nature deepens into introspection, as we march on towards the winter Solstice..the days are swiftly shortening and that’s ok with me this time around…
I hope you’re embracing the current season and also whatever season of life you’re going through right now.
Alli x
