Bitter Sweet

A bitter sweet situation just came to visit us. It happens every year about this time. But every year I find it hard to deal with. It brings a multicolored, beautiful display of visual delight. It also brings that unmistaken warning of a grey, cold, vista as far as the eye can see. It arrived last week. A cold wind from the North carried with it Jack Frost. Jack is a strange person. He brings with him a palette of beautiful golds, red, yellow and umbers that he uses to paint the trees. Jack also brings a mixture of tints, tones, and shades of grey that he will use to paint the entire landscape. He teases us with beauty but we know that this grand display of Fall color will fade into the bleak colors of winter.

I look around and witness the transformation of green leaves, reflecting the vitality and rich goodness of summer, into the wonderful and varied colors of Fall. But I know it is short lived. It happened almost overnight and I must enjoy before Jack leaves and ushers in the Winter.  This is both the sweet – this beautiful Fall display – and the bitter – the knowledge that Winter is soon upon us.