October the Twenty First: Let It Go #Blogtober2021

Colder today and windy too. I'm not ready for the leaves to be falling yet. Autumn always seems to be the shortest season, I think. This year it's taken awhile for the trees to turn. I hope they aren't too quick to drop their leaves. Before this happens, don't forget to catch a falling leaf and make a wish.

      

 Flynn Mansion

   Living History Farms

    Urbandale, Iowa

 When I worked as an historical interpreter in a Victorian mansion, I spent a lot of my free time researching decorating, needlework and housekeeping books and magazines published in the 1870's. I still have many old books in my personal collection. Colorful fall leaves were often used to make Christmas decorations in the nineteenth century. In the fall we gathered leaves and twigs and acorns, and copied some of the arrangements from the past. We dipped colorful leaves in wax and arranged them on the fireplace mantels and tabletops. We stuck them on picture frames and mirrors, and made garlands to hang across the windows. Long branches and leaves filled our cut glass vases, and pottery pitchers. And, yes, it was the best job ever.

"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go."  That is a wonderful and profound quote. And  appropriate to so much in our lives. So many times when we have to let things go, we aren't able to see the beauty that can follow. It can be books, a job, extra weight, a closet filled with clothes that no longer fit, our youth, furniture, houses, dear friendships, and even the special people in our lives. The bareness of late October trees serves to remind us that spring always comes back into our lives. No matter what happens.