Nature nurtures me. Living at the river was one of the most beautiful seasons of my life and came at exactly the perfect time. Not two years after losing Mr. Virgo and the fiasco caring for my elderly aunt had become, the river offered me the peace and tranquility my anguished soul needed to heal. I’m grateful to my friends for that opportunity. And now, God has provided for me yet again with the opportunity to live on the family farm.
The seventy-odd acres of the farm consists mostly of hilly woods with about five acres or so of tillable land. A portion of the backside of the farm was clear cut several years ago and is now filled with brush. I didn’t go back on the hill for the longest time because I couldn’t stomach looking at it with my beautiful woods missing. I remember the first time I ventured back, I cried at the sight.

Now, so many trees are falling and they are inaccessible…impossible to remove. There is one big ash tree out by the road that was killed by the emerald ash borer infestation that came through a few years ago. It has now become dangerous and needs to be cut down. I’m hoping it is within the right of way for the road and perhaps we can get the state road people to remove it. (Thank God they filled the potholes today…some of them were big enough you could lose a Buick!)

I love the way the trees “talk”. They creak as they sway back and forth in the wind. The leaves rustle with the slightest breeze. And, they roar with the sound of the approaching rain…several seconds before you hear the drum of raindrops on the tin roof. They turn their leaves over when a storm is impending, thanks to the storm front’s approach and the rapid rise of heat from the ground.

Now, the trees are preparing for their last hurrah…the brilliant blaze of autumn. We’ve had such a dry summer here, many of the leaves are just turning brown and falling off. But this weekend I am attending a family wedding in the eastern panhandle and I am sure the colors will be amazing.

A walk through the woods. A drive in the country. A hike in the high mountains. This is the time of year where our communion with God includes nature…our ballast for keeping us steady through the long, dark months of winter. Our time to breathe in the last breaths of warmth before our world lives under a blanket of whit. Take good care you don’t miss it.

❤️

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,”‭‭

Genesis‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬