A bit about the Autumn season

Melancholy is the season, from warm to cold

Autumn is the outcome as summer harvests and lives unfold. 

Every Autumn we celebrate harvests and participate in life and death celebrations.  Children go back to school, back to seriousness and we all stock pile our summer traditions and outdoor belongings as we get ready to hunker down for the onslaught of winter.  

There’s a sense of ending when Fall comes. Isn’t there?  We don our snuggly woolies and venture out to enjoy the spectacular changing of the leaves.  Each September I feel older; my kids are in a higher grade, and our homestead just experienced another year of decay.

Of course I’ll be participating in many fall festivals, the life/death celebrations and the giving of thanks, but I’ll also adopt a more reflective state of mind.  Maturity? Perhaps that’s it. Acceptance? Yes, Autumn is the time of year that people come to terms with the reality that they have created. Choices, whether self imposed or forced by others- come to fruition in the autumn months. Is it any wonder that this is the time selected for government elections?  Make a choice and stick with it - 

reap what you sow. 

So with the approaching chilly nights, I myself will dispose of my porch’s summer florals and replace them with Autumn dry & preserved imitations. I will vote for the term ahead for governing parties, I will plan my thanksgiving traditions and will set aside time to remember  the death of the season, the passing of many lives and the resting nature of the earth and I'll do it from the comfort of a warmed home and comfy couch.  Does red wine not taste any smoother, than in the folds of Fall?

Autumn Years Ago/Falling Forward.  Blogger's own Children when they were wee.

What's Black Friday all about?

Shopping to get the requested Christmas Gifts

Black Friday is an American conceptualized marketing strategy.  It was created to stimulate and kick off holiday shopping by offering some, substantially reduced items.

Always following the day after American Thanksgiving Thursday, the already statutory day (for most), benefitted from having masses of people off work and school.  

Over the years, the date has become well known for shopping frenzies and has bled into Canada.  But things are changing.  Clever retailers have learned to feed the growing trend with online purchasing.  In fact a growing number of consumers are realizing that they can forgo the mayhem and enjoy - at home browsing and benefit with the additional bonus of free shipping, when offered.  

Although some people enjoy the outing, many do not.  Will there always be a Black Friday?  As long as there will be a commercial Christmas, there will always be a Black Friday - when retailers across the land experience profit and cannot claim they are in the red. Of course, it’s also just a precursor to Cyber Monday...which was created to get the last of kick off shopping by promoting online buying power. Items are further reduced to entice the exhausted Thanksgiving Holiday shopper.  

I support a family cherishing holiday, I think Christians should always have the opportunity to symbolize Christ, and I personally like a winter solstice type gathering of fires burning, good food and wintery outdoor lights.  I just think the value of merchandise can be reduced and the stress of expectations be evened out a bit.  But Happy Shopping - none the less!