Sunflower Season: Adjustments and Adventure

In my mind, The Fellowship of the Ring will always be an autumn book. I especially love the following passage, and how it captures the special kind of wanderlust that is unique to the season:

“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.”¹

In autumn, the whole world seems full of bustle and change in preparation for the winter chill, and this bustle is infectious. Like Bilbo Baggins, something Tookish wakes inside me, a longing “to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.”² For me, autumn rouses a desire to run with the wind, or to throw myself into some good, hard work.

Also like Bilbo, this fall I got more adventure than I bargained for, though not the kind that requires a sword — I’ve started pursuing post-secondary education!! 😀 I’m now a student of English in the Humanities at Holy Apostles College.

This adventure is one that I have long hoped for. It will ground me in my faith, inform me as a writer, and equip me to serve in the education field, guiding young minds on the path of Truth and Beauty (what an honour!). Like any season of change, this one has brought its fair share of challenges. I may have been overambitious in taking on a full course load while also working part time as an online literature instructor, but after a somewhat ungraceful adjustment process, I feel confident that I am where I’m called to be. As the mid-term mark approaches, the apprehensions of my inner Baggins begin to give way to my Tookish side, which is thriving amid the joyful business of study.

Of course, all this means that my personal writing projects have been temporarily sidelined, though I do have a newish poem to share! As we step into October, I wanted to offer you a taste of what September is like in my corner of the world. I hope you enjoy it!

September in Southern Alberta

~
The still-green ash is golden-brushed,
The chestnut turns the shade of rust,
The sunflower enjoys her prime,
The earth smells sweet, like straw and wine,
The sun is hot, the shade is chill,
The restless air above is filled
With chirp and croak and creaking-cackle
Of busy sparrow, crow, and grackle. 

Let me know what you think of it! What’s September like in your corner of the world?

Notes:

1. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, “A Shadow of the Past.”
2. Tolkien, The Hobbit, “An Unexpected Party.”

Image credit to Pixabay on Pexels.com.