The Neighbors 5: The Sky is Falling
It is this time of the year
Listen! - said Anna.
They both listened for a while with fascination. It was raining, but not with water. They were in the park of the castle. A quiet place with many big old oaks, and it was obviously this time of the year - the acorns were falling from the trees like rain over the park.
This time of the year had yesterday been summer - today it was fall. It had become colder, and those clouds from yesterday were still moving hastily across the sky, now supplemented with even stronger wind and lower temperatures.
The fall is in some languages called something else, such as “harvest” or “ late year” or whatever may have been logical or relevant for people in the areas speaking those languages, long ago, when the words for this were shaped. But right here, at the castle, no other word would be more appropriate than exactly “fall”.
The sky was falling, and soon both Anna and John were hit by the little things - they laughed over it. No harm done, as an acorn isn’t exactly heavy, but it is definitely posible to feel it if it hits your forehead, so they decided to go back in.
Soon there will be all kinds of animals and insects taking these nuts in posession. Not the least squirrels, but also mice and birds of various kinds - the birds mostly for the possibility to catch an insect that thought it had found a safe place for the vinter, bot some of them also eating the actual acorns. And any pigs or deer that may find their way into the park will be happy to see what is now lying everywhere on the grass.
it is a miraculous thing, really, that nature is starting out so slowly in the early spring, only to accelerate the growth and production of flowers, leaves, fruits and nuts over the summer, taking in all nutrition from the ground and the old leaves on it, until everything is handed back to the surroundings in what feels like just a moment in the fall.
Also the farmers get everything they have worked for all year presented over a short period of harvesting the grain during the early fall - hopefully it will be a good harvest. If we can judge from the amount of acorns, it definitely looks like a great year!
Life is so beautiful when it starts. We all love the sight of the sprouts of the spring flowers, and the appearance of the ducklings, and everything else that is new life. As it grows and develops and blossums, it seemingly holds so much power, so much potential, such a likely brilliant future, and it looks like it will live and grow forever.
Nothing does, of course, but the beauty and the memory of it remains, and for a tree, the end is just temporary - it drops its nuts or fruits or whatever it produces, and its leaves, and then it rests for the vinter, after which it all begins once again.
Oak trees can live for hundreds of years, producing this spectacle again and again over the years. They are very significant for the landscapes they live in, very important for all the creatures living there.
It is so beautiful! - they both said as with one mouth and looked surprised at each other. John stopped for a moment to pick up a couple of the little beauties, but then they hurried towards the building, as the first raindrops now also appeared.
The fall definitely can be a beautiful experience.
Oh, now you've made it impossible for me to hate fall... 😜To be honest, I thank you. I've been working on reframing the change of seasons for years now since I often dread it because I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I also thought about how similar this is to how we think about age. We all love and glorify the spring and summer of life. Fall and winter, not so much. But there's beauty in them, too.