It’s been more than 2 months since I set foot in this part of the globe. Being in a new place I wanted to explore the place, but actually I haven’t been able to do more than half the things I wanted to before I came here, partly for the rigorous schedule I have been following and partly for my being overtly lazy!
Things have been changing at a rapid pace and the weather is catching up in the race to change too, or transform, if you will. It has started to become really chilly, especially at night and in the mornings but overall I find it very pleasing, given that I like winters more than any other season.
Lately I noticed that the change in the temperature had been accompanied by some subtle yet noticeable changes in the overall natural setup. The view outside my window close to the study table has changed significantly and the long walks on campus from the shuttle stop to the college building have become more pleasing and I wonder why.
Well, it's that time of the year when nature flaunts its colours and the trees transform from the monotonous shades of green to the fiery red and bright yellow and orange. The change here in Maryland, Washington, DC, and in Virginia usually peaks in mid to late October. The intensity of colour each year depends on the amount of rainfall, warm days and cool nights.
It appears all more the magical especially because the show offers variety each day and the colour kind of settles down on trees, flowing down with each passing day, as if someone has dropped a can of paint at the top and the paint trickles down, slowly each day, colouring the leaves on the way, bit by bit. The weather too plays its part in this whole conspiracy. The chill in the air, the bright sunshine, all draw you outdoors and kind of force you into admiring the beauty, leaving you gasping for more. Fall really is one of the most beautiful times of year!
Leaf Senescence is the annual seasonal gaining period when the leaves stop producing chlorophyll and begin storing the nutrients for use the next year. Based on the kind of tree, different chemicals are produced giving the rich hues of red, yellow and orange in the process. Whatever be the scientific reason or process behind it, I feel the whole show is a big cover-up for conveying symbolic messages to us humans to learn from and adopt and apply the learnings in our conduct in life.
I don’t want to sound preaching but I do feel that I could learn from the abundant store of wisdom that nature has to share with us. Given that the changing of colours in essence is the process by which trees prepare for the tough time ahead, the winters, when the snow covers them and the sun doesn’t show up for days. In such trying circumstances, to be left on its own, it makes sense to be prepared beforehand and store resources when none are available. It means adapting to the changing conditions, conditions over which the humble trees might not have control upon. Likewise, we humans too seldom have complete control over our lives yet we fail to adapt and in fact we choose to complain instead of proactively preparing ourselves for the future. I am not a big pessimist but I do feel it helps to be prepared for the worst and still act as if the best is to come to us.
Anyways, I do realize the folly in the statements above, for I myself hardly practice what I wrote about, but hey, I too am a human, just like you. But I do know that I need to learn a lot, and want to make my life as colourful as possible, for myself, and for those around me. In fact for those who choose to see things the way I do, and enjoy even the small things in life, such as the colours of the fall, which have just started to fall in!
Things have been changing at a rapid pace and the weather is catching up in the race to change too, or transform, if you will. It has started to become really chilly, especially at night and in the mornings but overall I find it very pleasing, given that I like winters more than any other season.
Lately I noticed that the change in the temperature had been accompanied by some subtle yet noticeable changes in the overall natural setup. The view outside my window close to the study table has changed significantly and the long walks on campus from the shuttle stop to the college building have become more pleasing and I wonder why.
Well, it's that time of the year when nature flaunts its colours and the trees transform from the monotonous shades of green to the fiery red and bright yellow and orange. The change here in Maryland, Washington, DC, and in Virginia usually peaks in mid to late October. The intensity of colour each year depends on the amount of rainfall, warm days and cool nights.
It appears all more the magical especially because the show offers variety each day and the colour kind of settles down on trees, flowing down with each passing day, as if someone has dropped a can of paint at the top and the paint trickles down, slowly each day, colouring the leaves on the way, bit by bit. The weather too plays its part in this whole conspiracy. The chill in the air, the bright sunshine, all draw you outdoors and kind of force you into admiring the beauty, leaving you gasping for more. Fall really is one of the most beautiful times of year!Leaf Senescence is the annual seasonal gaining period when the leaves stop producing chlorophyll and begin storing the nutrients for use the next year. Based on the kind of tree, different chemicals are produced giving the rich hues of red, yellow and orange in the process. Whatever be the scientific reason or process behind it, I feel the whole show is a big cover-up for conveying symbolic messages to us humans to learn from and adopt and apply the learnings in our conduct in life.
I don’t want to sound preaching but I do feel that I could learn from the abundant store of wisdom that nature has to share with us. Given that the changing of colours in essence is the process by which trees prepare for the tough time ahead, the winters, when the snow covers them and the sun doesn’t show up for days. In such trying circumstances, to be left on its own, it makes sense to be prepared beforehand and store resources when none are available. It means adapting to the changing conditions, conditions over which the humble trees might not have control upon. Likewise, we humans too seldom have complete control over our lives yet we fail to adapt and in fact we choose to complain instead of proactively preparing ourselves for the future. I am not a big pessimist but I do feel it helps to be prepared for the worst and still act as if the best is to come to us.
Anyways, I do realize the folly in the statements above, for I myself hardly practice what I wrote about, but hey, I too am a human, just like you. But I do know that I need to learn a lot, and want to make my life as colourful as possible, for myself, and for those around me. In fact for those who choose to see things the way I do, and enjoy even the small things in life, such as the colours of the fall, which have just started to fall in!