Here in Vermont the inevitable annual changes in our natural world are well underway. The sun, of course, drives them all with less solar energy reaching us due to shorter days and a longer path through the atmosphere. With those changes come colder average temperatures, many plants shuttering their growth, animals of all kinds either moving south and more sun and food or eating ferociously before slowing down for the winter. Flocks of birds glean the yard of seeds and insects every day to fuel their migrations. The first large V-formations of geese are passing high in the sky, their honking a harbinger of the inevitable.

Many of these changes come slowly enough that we relish them, notably the Fall foliage which this year is spectacular—or maybe I say that every year! This week the Oaks are rusty red and brown, the tamaracks golden, sumac a flamboyance of reds, and the many invasive plants—especially Norway maples and knotweed along the rivers—bright yellow. The bones of many species, notably ash, walnut, elm, are outlined against the sky as they will continue to be for the months to come.

Some changes are much faster, like the hard freeze we’ll probably see this weekend when nighttime temperatures dip into the low-20s. Snow on the mountain tops, welcomed by skiers, is a clear reminder of the big changes we’ll all see soon.

There are other changes on the way too, also inevitable, even if less predicable. In two weeks we will have elected a new president. There may be less certainty for a bit than the coming snows but change will come. Of course I worry about these changes and am doing some small tasks—keeping informed with various trustworthy news sources, writing letters, making donations, encouraging people to vote—to help steer this ship of civilization in a more sane direction. But regardless of the outcome of the election, bigger changes are essential if we are to heal the damage humans have done to the planet and to each other.

Our working at a community meal—every day now feeding more than 100 people from our small town—many unhoused, all clearly hungry—is just one reminder of that damage. While I don’t know all the stories of those at the tables, I do know enough about them to recognize them as fellow guests in our community, each there in need and each bringing gifts of their own. While it is clear our efforts together are woefully inadequate to heal all the damage done, it is what is needed right now. What happens after the election offers far greater opportunities, and much more significant dangers.

While I sustain my own sanity by seeing the slow and typically beautiful changes coming in the natural world, I also know those we humans are involved with may be less sane. I trust in most of my fellow humans to care for each other—it is, after all, the way of life itself—and hope the changes that are coming will help right some of the immense imbalances that exist. The natural world is never long out of balance, a harmony obvious to me as I sit writing this looking out the window at the coming of winter, a time of rest and reading life for spring.

Please take time in the next weeks to keep yourself informed about the world we live in. Ask yourself what it might look like if all of us were “at the table” with each other sharing the abundance of life. Maybe take time to sit under a tree—with phones off—and see what comes to mind. And then please cast your vote, because the choice is clear, at least to me.

25 Oct This entry was published on October 25, 2024 at 11:24 am. It’s filed under Ecosystem, equity, Fall colors, Frost, John Snell, John Snell Photographer, Leaves, People, Photograph, Spring, Summer, Trees, Vermont, vote, Winter, www.johnsnell.photography and tagged Harris/Walz. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.