Slowly Moving Into Autumn
When life doesn't stick to the plan, the seasons do. Isn't it comforting?
Hello, I’m Claudia, and Happy Quiet Life is where I share my view on the world as a Highly Sensitive Person. You’ll find reflections and stories about slowing down & living simpler, reconnecting with nature, mental health & self-care, books & reading adventures. Welcome!
A month of transition
September is my favourite month. I like this time of transition from summer into autumn. The heat has passed, but it’s still mild and kind of summerly warm. The air, however, is becoming more humid. We’ve even had the first misty mornings.
Bees visit the last-standing summer flowers, but nature is already preparing for the next season. A new flower spectrum is en vogue, plants like aster, sedum, chrysanthemum really shine now in pots and flower beds. The hazelnuts ripen, and the first yellow leaves are softly bumbling down on the lawn.
It’s that time of the year again.
My morning tea in the garden before the neighbourhood wakes up, usually at around 6.30 a.m., moves from sunrise and birds at the feeder to a grey twilight with no animals around. The air is brisk because the nights are already getting cold. I take a deep breath. It’s so quiet.
This is my favourite part of the day.
Animal visitors
After some months of being on heron holiday, the grey heron reappeared with the beginning of September on the neighbours’ roof, eyeing his snack bar in the pond in the adjacent neighbour’s little garden. For me it’s still a wonder to see this majestic bird sitting on the edge of a terraced house bungalow in the middle of a residential area. He’s so close. I never get tired of watching him from my kitchen window. What a beautiful sight when he takes off. I’m looking out for him every morning when I prepare tea or hot chocolate for my quiet sunrise sitting in the garden. Most days he’s there too, apparently sharing my liking for morning twilight.
We had a new visitor to the garden. A kind of ‘blink or you’ve missed it’ visit. A red flash. I just happened to watch out of the living-room window when a red squirrel appeared on the scene. I actually hold my breath and didn’t move any muscle when it zigzagged over the lawn, emerged under the corkskrew hazel, inspected the patio and the adjacent flower beds. He sat upright a few times for getting a better overview and to assess the location. I laughed, he looked like a red meerkat on a lookout. I like the way squirrels move on the ground, the wave-like body movement. The bushy tail, the pointed, feathery ears, I was enraptured by this visitor and would love him to return more often. It’s a good year for hazelnuts, so maybe we are both in luck.
While I didn't have my camera ready for those occasions, my mum was better prepared for animal guests in their garden.
My parents’ first unusual visitor was a great green bush-cricket. (Or maybe it works for the post company. But then it got the colour wrong …) Anyway, it was so fascinating to observe. They are not that often found in our gardens (or clinging on to mail boxes).
The very next day my parents were granted another guest who landed on the parasol. The Southern hawker dragonfly took the time to be admired and photographed. (All photos taken by my mum.) I was deeply fascinated by the wings. They actually reminded me of Tiffany glass, do you see that too?
Curtain up for autumn flowers!
As the autumn flowers take slowly over from the summer bunch, I trim bushes and the (not so) small hedge along the patio. When did it become so wide? It looks as if it was secretly trying to restrict my view of the garden. (Or to swallow the south-west corner of the house.) As much as I love the hedge for shade, windbreak and blocking the view from the apartment block next door, I had to make a stand now. I’ve borrowed a taller ladder from my dad, got my sturdy tools ready and started to trim and thin. It probably looked a bit acrobatic, and of course I was a little muscle sore at first, but I'm on it. Yay!
It’s amazing how many tiny creatures hide in the hedge. Spiders, obviously, tiny snails, ladybirds, but also very jumpy insects, light shade of green, difficult to keep an eye on. When they fell to the ground with the leaves and twigs I’ve cut, they jumped back into the hedge. Maybe juvenile bush-crickets? I also encountered them while I refilled the bird feeder, a long plastic tube. Not sure if it’s smart to hide in the birds’ all-you-can-eat buffet …
Approaching the golden days
On days where the sky is clear and cloudless, the first rays of the morning sun fall on the maple tree at the corner of our garden. It’s a beautiful sight when the leaves that are more and more turning yellow light up in the morning sun till they shimmer and glisten like gold. It’s breathtaking, every time I see it.
When life doesn’t stick to the plan
This year has turned out differently than expected, wished or planned. Many of my plans for spring and summer came to nothing; I expected too much of myself and my dysregulated nervous system. Now that the busy season of plans, activities and long days is coming to an end, I feel relief - and acceptance that many things didn't work out and that it's okay.
It has brought me back to the moment, demanded more slowness, has thrown me back on myself and what I actually know is good for me – and that feels right and relieving in a way. Even though I wanted to be much further along.
Things not yet learned. A new chance to learn them, to do them better. Patience required. Patience again.
Every moment is a chance to make a different decision, to be gentler with myself, to take a step away from pressure, towards healing and more freedom. I need to take better care of myself.
Autumn is getting closer, then winter. I long for peace, quiet and rest. Maybe it’s time for some months of hibernation again. Slowing down, preparing for retreat, curling up in the warmth and safety of my home. Expectations are fading. It’s time for healing. Properly this time.
When life doesn’t go according to plan, the seasons do and that’s very comforting.
Every moment is a chance to make a different decision, to be gentler with myself, to take a step away from pressure, towards healing and more freedom....yes!
It's an up and down journey. It would be boring if life went to our self-imposed plan, hey! You are reflecting and learning and growing though 🙏💛
PS, love your mum's photographs!
A beautiful read Claudia🌺💟 I very often follow the flow with the seasons, I love all of them but have a special bond to autumn. I like slow living too, and love nature. Nature is my medicine and I find my strength there among the trees , moss and animals. I see you mention North Germany, I live almost half of the year with my boyfriend in Stralsund. I know that region quite well🙂