Living on an alien planet?

 Last summer, I remember coming home from work one day and it was gorgeous outside. It was still early summer, the sun was shining but not too hot, a fresh breeze gently blowing and I decided to mow the lawn. I remember as I was about half finished, I started thinking about the huge difference between our seasons. Here I was, mowing the lawn at eight o'clock in the evening. It's still basically day time, the sun isn't even thinking about setting yet, it's warm out, everything is green and growing, there are birds, bugs and little animals everywhere, life is in full gear and the chattering tells you there is even more than you see.

 My garden, bursting with life, one of my Zen places.

 Compare that to only a few months later, sitting on the lawnmower on that sunny summer day, it's almost unbelievable that in a couple of months everything will change so drastically. There will be no leaves on the trees, no grass growing, everything is covered in snow and ice. Eight o'clock is basically night time now, you would be sitting in total darkness if you were out on a mower, as the sun would have set hours ago. There will be no signs of life, no chattering or singing, only eerie silence, made worse by a bone chilling wind rubbing branches together or the cold causing a twig to snap . The world appears dead, lifeless.

 It's incredible to see how nature can change a landscape so much in a few months. The "Ice Planet".

 Fast forward from that summer day, to an evening last fall, it was the grey days of late fall and neighbours had invited me over for supper, sitting around after... talking over cups of tea and apple crumble, I remarked my moment on the lawn mower, compared to that fall day. The couple agreed, the husband said he often noticed the same thing, he said winter is almost like being on an alien planet, that it's hard to believe we are in the place. I thought that was the best description of how I was feeling. Sometimes when fall arrives, I feel it's like a long journey I have to make and the older I get, the more daunting the journey appears to me.

 Here I am however, spring is coming, I made it through, time to start the engines and soon return home to earth, with flowers and trees, birds, little beasties and bees, lawns to mow, gardens to grow and all the summer goodness planet earth has.

  Not there yet but hopefully the snow soon goes and things will start to green up in the next few weeks. Return to me spring, return to me.