Elisabeth’s walking challenge has been surprisingly challenging for me this month. So far, out of 25 days, I’ve only managed to take a walk on 15 of those. (I plan to take a walk today, but it’s early yet.) I’ve spent a lot of time berating myself: how hard is it to take a ten-minute walk? Especially when you have access to a) a very walkable neighborhood and b) beautiful walking paths and c) A TREADMILL. Comparison is the thief of joy and all that, but I feel like an utter failure compared to someone like Engie, who has a full-time job and still manages to walk multiple times a day. Perhaps I need a dog.
This week has been much better. (And I did walk on Wednesday, with two friends and a dog. I have a clear memory of programming “outdoor walk” into my watch, but seem to have done something to prevent it from recording.)
The weather – which has been beautiful beyond belief – makes me want to be outside all the time. It’s been the best of all seasons here: warm and sunny, but not humid, and flowers are still blooming, but also the trees are a panoply of vivid colors. Mornings and evenings are cool enough for a jacket, the days are warm enough for tank tops and even shorts.
I keep goggling at the leaves, trying repeatedly to capture their vibrancy with my phone, and failing. It’s a beauty I’m unable to adequately translate to digital imagery. Every time I’m outside, I’m drinking in the colors, trying to store them up for winter’s bleak monochrome.
I keep pointing out trees to my daughter on our drives – “Look! Look!” – and she has been humoring me, and pointing out especially beautiful specimens herself. The other day, my husband picked her up from school, and apparently wanted to stop to photograph some startlingly red trees on the drive home, and my daughter moaned, “You sound like Mom!”
Carla has been “hired” a few times to puppy-sit for one of our neighbors. It’s now dark when she goes to do his bedtime routine, so I’ve been accompanying her. (I don’t go into their house at all; that would be weird. I just lurk outside in the dark, looking at my phone, which is much less weird.) She and I take the puppy on a final evening walk, both of us inhaling deeply of the night air, tinted with the promise of winter, both of us gazing up at the stars. Carla tries to get the puppy to admire the moon; so far, he is unimpressed.
My husband, not usually one for walks, has initiated two! walks! this week alone! Fall is his favorite season and I wish it would last forever just for the opportunity to trudge through the fallen leaves with him, hand in hand, talking about all sorts of the mundane things you discuss with your partner.
One of my favorite things about fall is stepping on acorns. The crunch under my heel is so satisfying. I am a little reluctant to do so when I’m walking with others, though – there’s something a little childish, a little embarrassing about doing so among friends. Perhaps that’s why there’s so much joy in it, because it feels like a call back to childhood? Another thing I love about fall is the cloud cover. It’s not oppressive, as in winter. It’s joyful and painterly and somehow distinct from the sky in other seasons.
I have been obsessed with a bank of trees I walk by frequently. It’s a copse of ALL the colors, their brightness cranked up to 11. We had a windy day the other day, and they are beginning to release their leaves to the inevitability of time’s passing, and I’m trying not to see it as a loss, but as a harbinger of the austere beauty to come: snow and ice and bare limbs scraping a cloud smudged sky.
You live in a gorgeous place. Your photos a spectacular. As for doing the walking challenge… I said I would, but like you, found it difficult to do. Which is odd because I thought I’d be able to be intentional, but I’m not. Feeling scattered this month, I guess.
Ohhh, I would be obsessed with that copse of trees, too! WOW. We’re just starting to see color down here in GA, I’m hoping for the peak within the next week or so. I agree with every sentiment in this lovely fall post. <3 Enjoy!
Beautiful photos! Autumn is a special time of year, probably because of its colors. A walk among the trees is always very relaxing, and allows you to gain strength for the next days.
Suzanne, I love absolutely everything about this post. The pictures! The hand-in-hand walks. The night sky and walks with Carla. The lurking outside on your phone.
I ADORE stepping on acorns and perhaps show my infantile nature because I do so as much as possible regardless of who is around. My favourite is to step on the “hats” when they’re separated from the body because they tend to be tried out and really crackle when I step on them.
The writing is, as always, absolutely gorgeous. You are a talented photographer and wordsmith and this post makes me gleeful <3
Those trees are very lovely indeed! And yes a dog certainly makes walking a necessity which has its ups and downs. Happy last week of October!
The fall colors were late this year, but now that they’re here I’m not complaining! We’re at peak gorgeousness.
You figured out the secret to regular walking==>when it is how a member of your house uses the bathroom you will never miss a walk! Oh wait, there’s a catch – you have to have a dog! Or borrow a neighbor’s dog.
When the kids were little we did family dog walks and now we do couples’ dog walks. It’s a great time to chat.
My favorite season! I love the colors everywhere 🧡🍂🤎
I have a friend who always says “only compare yourself to yourself” and it is so hard but SO important.
We’ve hit peak fall here this week too – except it’s cold and sunny, and I spend hours wrapped in a blanket reading in my hanging chair outside and it is absolute heaven. I try to get Lucy to prance in the leaves when we’re walking but she is also unimpressed by nature’s bounty. Dogs, hmph.
I crunch the acorns too! There is one particularly acorny tree where Eve would always collect acorns on the way home from the school bus and it is so bittersweet walking there.
My husband has been walking to work regularly while we see how long we can go with one vehicle, and it’s been really great for him.
These are gorgeous photos of the glory of autumn. I’ve been taking many pictures too since it’s getting colder and wind is predicted later today. It will mean many fewer leaves but at least we’ll still have our evergreens.
I have been stepping on so many acorns lately that I keep wondering if my “walking steadiness” tracker thing on my phone is measuring off this month.
Your pictures are beautiful as is your writing. Every paragraph caught me up and I was right there with you. Lovely. We are also enjoying a spectacular fall here in southern Ontario. Gorgeous colours and many unseasonably warm days. We are still golfing in late October! In shorts & short sleeves! But the nights are chilly and I love the opportunity to bundle up. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous pics and wordsmithing.
Lovely pics!
It’s the best time of year to walk, no doubt about it!
Gah! Gorgeous pictures! I’ve been basking in the beauty of fall s well. I have pointed out a lot of pretty trees to my kids but at least one of them is color blind and possibly both are? So they can’t see the vibrant reds, only the yellows and oranges. They are more excited about the Halloween decorations. We’ve done a number of scavenger hunts for Halloween decor which makes walks more fun.
My participation in the walking challenge has been AWFUL. So if you want to feel better, just talk to me. Ha. I’ve gone on some runs and we did a ton of walking in DC last week but there have been many days when I barely walked… like when I was in NJ this week staying at a hotel right off a highway…
great photos. I took a few pics of the sunrise on my run last week. Near the end of my run, I wanted to take a pic of a really red tree. It stood out from the others. I skipped it, because I needed time to shower before babies arrived. The weather in my neck of the woods has also been amazing. Dreading winter.
Your photos are so beautiful! It has been a glorious fall here too, and I’m enjoying it so much!
Oh, your pictures are stunning! I love them. We are at the beginning of fall foliage here. A few trees are bare already, others are not yet showing any change, and then there are those that are in full color, and those where there is only a leaf or two that has turned. I love it all. It doesn’t get to full fall foliage (FFF) for a few weeks yet. Like you, I love the cool, crisp nights, and the warm afternoons.
Great photos! I love the ones of all of the leaves and of the night sky. And no, lurking outside the house in the dark with the glow of your phone on your face is not weird AT ALL! 🙂 I must have missed a post from you because….the puppy!?!? What puppy? Where did this come from and where was I when it happened? Do tell.
Lovely fall photos!
Wow. Those fall colors really are beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing so I can live vicariously. This is seriously the hardest time to live in Florida. Winters are beautiful here, summers are hot (but it’s hot everywhere) but fall is where we really miss out. I’m glad you’re enjoying it so thoroughly!
Oh, fall! It’s really showing off this year. I have found– much to my surprise– that I usually walk outside for at least 10 minutes in the course of a normal day– I would not have guessed that this was true, actually.
Yeah, 100% if you want to walk every day, you gotta get a dog. That’s my advice for dealing with depression, too. Just get a dog. You need to make friends? Get a dog. You have a crappy job? Get a dog. Basically the solution to every major problem in an adult life can be solved with a dog. But your mileage may vary on that. They’re also a ton of work and super expensive.
This post was like a balm to my soul. I am LIVING for all of these fall pictures from my friends who get to experience ACTUAL FALL. It’s still hot and humid in Florida and no cute leaves. SIGH.
I would like to participate in the Cool Bloggers Walking Club but I know I am way too lazy to commit to it. Ha.
Your pictures were were spectacular and your words were so poetic and somehow full of longing… I enjoyed this post so much!
Gorgeous photos. It is so pretty in your neighborhood.
If fall foliage doesn’t want you to go outside, there’s something wrong with you LOL such beautiful picture, Suzanne, and I agree that being outside when there is beauty at every turn is so satisfying! 🙂
This looks like paradise! I have a dog, and not-a-full-time job, and I still can’t get in as many walks as Engie, so also feeling like a failure.
I’m a tree lover too, I’m happiest walking in two of our local parks because they’re full of trees and the season change of weather up here, is dramatic to say the least. I love that you at least managed to capture the essence of the Fall change where you are. The vibrancy of the colours especially in that last photo are beautiful.
Your photos are BEAUTIFUL!!
So, uh, everything ok? Seems weird for you to skip a whole month. Completely no pressure. You owe us nothing but I hope you are ok.