Nature's treasures

These autumn afternoons are the most beautiful ones in our lives. We’ve not seen so many different colors before. Every time we go for a walk at the end of the day, we come back home with Nature’s treasures.

It has been raining at the beginning of the week. It’s quite warm these days, so we have been picking field mushrooms. Looking for mushrooms we can eat is one of the pleasant things we can do as a family. Last night, we ate the first ones of this autumn with some potatoes. They were delicious.

We still can find some flowers in the fields, but not that much. However, there are plenty of other kind of Nature’s treasures as beautiful leaves, birds feathers or dried fruits from trees. Sometimes, we keep most beautiful ones for Sacha’s notebook, a kind of diary we are writing to him, where he’ll be able to read about our forest walks, daily life and souvenirs.

Autumn and chestnuts

We’ve been travelling for a while. Having holidays under the sun during September is a kind of benefit. We have gone to the beach, read some books, visit the family and friends… and enjoyed Spanish and Portuguese dishes and wines.

We left home with fruits in the garden. Being back, the forest is now totally different, full of read, brown, yellow and green colors. I guess if I had to chose a season, the most beautiful one, I’d say autumn (even if spring is for me the warmest one).

We went for a walk after working all day. The sun was almost gone when we realized a lot of chestnuts had already fallen from the trees. It was the first time Sacha saw some. We’ve not done it yet, but I’m already looking forward to sitting by the fireplace. It is the kind of calm I imagine for a relaxing afternoon: the autumn, family, books, chestnuts and a fireplace to sit by.

Birds feathers, changes and blackberries

It's been a bit more than one year since we definitely moved. It is actually the first summer we have spent together at home, the three of us. 

Yesterday afternoon, after work, we went to have a walk and to look for blackberries in the garden. There are a lot of them which are not ready yet, but we could pick up some of them. We'll certainly make a blackberries cake with.

We found some birds feathers on the floor and I immediately thought about a Kyo Maclear's book I will speak to you about that was a kind of revelation last summer. I looked at Sacha, at Samuel, and I let them to continue walking into the forest. It was in another book, called Mr. Flux, where Kyo Maclear said:

“You can make change or it can make you. Change is to keep us on our toes. Change is to make us look more closely. What doesn't change are the arms you use to hug with. Those stay the same.” 

- Kyo Maclear, Mr. Flux

We discussed about how fast time has passed by since we moved here. We realize we do not miss the city. We feel so lucky at the end of these summer days.

Looking for fruits in the garden with Wislawa Szymborska

This afternoon, coming back home from the village, we went out to have a walk. We were going to the forest, but we decided to have a look to all the trees of the garden, as some fruits were almost ready to be collected one week ago. It was too late for the plums: birds had already eaten most of them.

It's quite frustrating, but this is not the first time it happens this year. This is the way Nature works. Since we live in the countryside, we realize we have not been able to adapt completely to Nature's rhythm. Why is time passing so quickly these days? We keep being so busy with our jobs, the baby and daily life that we have the feeling of missing some things.

Anyway, we keep doing our best and trying to do as much as we can. We got some apples (they are delicious!) and Sacha tasted a plum for the first time.

We came back home after the walk. Having dinner, I thought about the plums, the birds, and a poem I haven't finished. I went to continue writing it, but I couldn't. I stopped writing and trying. I remembered a poem from Wislawa Szymborska and then I thought about writing this post to share it with you. I wanted to share that poem from Szymborska, but looking for it on the Internet I found another treasure: advice by Wislawa Szymborska for blocked writers and aspiring poets. These answers were originally published in the Polish newspaper Literary Life. I'm sharing the Poetry Foundation selection. Isn't it magic?