Autumnal/Fall Equinox, 2021

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,

for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.

            As I gaze upon your full colored beauty, 

                    I sense all about you

an at homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement, 

of full barns and harvested fields.

The cycle of growth has ceased,

and the busy work of giving life

is now completed.

I sense in you no regrets:

you've lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever restless,

always eager for more mountains to climb,

seeking happiness through more and more possessions.

As a child of my culture,

I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.

Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,

may I know that it's enough,

that my striving can cease

in the abundance of God's grace.

May I know the contentment

that allows the totality of my energies

to come to full flower.

May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,

let me also take delight

in the abundance of the simple things in life

which are the true source of joy.

With the golden glow of peaceful contentment

may I truly appreciate this autumn day.

                                      EDWARD HAYS                                  

My friend DeAnne just a few
days ago shared this picture 
of newly purchased ristras
hanging in her back patio.
She says they are exordinarily heavy
this year given the abundance
of rain during the recent monsoon season
with the most monsoon rainfall since 2014.

Oh my gosh, where have these first nine months of 2021 gone? I have a fleeting remembrance of Christmas. Was that really almost 10 months ago? Really? It seems to me we were just making the decision to sell our 1950's Stamm home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, yet here we are settled into our 1950's cottage in Cotati, California. All this has taken place amidst the pandemic. 

And now the Autumnal Equinox is just around the corner. September 22 at 12:21 pm PDT is the official arrival of Autumn. This is a time of equal balance of light and dark on planet Earth. Based on the astronomical definition of seasons, the Autumnal Equinox marks the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere.   However, according to the meteorological definition of the season which is based on temperature cycles and the Gregorian calendar, the first day of Fall is actually September first.

Dwight donated his Mu sculpture that he
created to sit in front of our Sebastopol MuRefuge home
to the Upaya Zen Center before we moved from Santa Fe.
It now sits atop the mountain
of the Prajna Mountain Forest Refuge
which was been created for deep longterm retreat.
In the above picture Joan Halifax
and her 4 legged companion, Jaya (Victory).

The two above pictures are more chili ristras hangings at DeAnne's home in Santa Fe. Everyone in Santa Fe seem to hang these lovely traditional, and so Santa Fe, decorations on their porches, door and gates as DeAnne has done. Thank you!!! DeAnne for sharing these pictures with me.

I fondly remember our wonderful but brief time in stunningly beautiful New Mexico and the exceptionally welcoming neighbors upon our moving into our Stamm home. One neighbor who lives in the home in which she was raised says this particular neighborhood is "the BEST in Santa Fe". To discharge the incredible sadness of no longer living in Santa Fe, I have a good belly