Autumn on the Island

"Dig your hands into the rich, black soil; toil."

Pumpkin Perfection
c. Gillian Cornwall

This is a perfect late September day. The morning air, cool as a reminder of the harvest days ahead. I throw my mind one hundred and fifty years to the past and envision myself on pastoral lands and villages built of the stones dug from the fields by which they stand. 

Simpler times are what I crave, time spent in a kitchen preparing food for the winter months - a pot of soup set upon the stove, bubbling with the goodness picked steps from the cottage door. I know I idolize farm life, which is silly because I've done it and it is hard work, but that time was spent in direct contact with our needs and survival. Our jobs have become the middle man between our physical needs and ourselves. I now wonder if I'd have the strength to provide for myself - to build a home, to work the land, to have my job be my survival.

I love to go right to the farm for the food upon my table. I fill my lungs with the scent of the land. My eyes open wide to the rich black soil and the red leaves of the blueberry bushes in the distance. I listen with love to the songs of the sheep and the cattle. I dream of the sensation of the cool, earth-damp squash or potato in my hands, fresh from the ground below my feet. 

I am doubly blessed now our community mindset has shifted and many Victoria markets provide farm-fresh local foods grown with love and care for the land from which they arise.

It is autumn and I recognize the gifts of the earth. I fill my glass with deep, rich, BC wine and I lay a dish before you, replete with the wonders of this place, my home.

With recognition to the Lekwungen territory and the people on whose lands I live, play and work. I am grateful to the Elders and those who have gone before us - those who have cared for our mother Earth across time.

-Gillian Cornwall, September 25, 2012. Revised and re-posted September 28, 2014

The Blueberry Fields of West Saanich
c. Gillian Cornwall

Mini-Pumpkins - Saanich, BC
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Gourds, Saanich, BC
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Mount Baker beyond the Saanich Fields, B.C.
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

The Squash Wagon. Saanich, B.C.
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Saanich Apples
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Japanese Maple Leaves
Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

University of Victoria - Path to Campus

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2012

Gratitude

Saanich Peninsula

c. Gillian Cornwall, October, 2012.

Grateful that I kept going because it did get better - so hang in there! It does get better.

Recognition of the parts of myself that I want to work on to better myself and my experience of the life I have been given is essential to my growth.

Able to reach out, to ask, to learn and grow.

Thankful for my friends, for they teach me and light the path for me and cheer me on when it is dark and difficult.

Instinct, trust it. Trust yourself. As far as we have come from our beginnings, we still have our instinct. Stop and open up to the gift of the senses we are each given.

Thankful for my life, everyday. Thankful for the hard days and the easy ones, for each is a gift and an immeasurable blessing.

Unassailable love - a gift you give to someone, regardless of what they do with it. Love freely and openly and be open to the amorphous shape of love for it changes and grows just as we do. Let love flow through you as universal energy and you will be full and free of fear.

Dance, for we owe our greatest debt to joy! While we have breath within us, while we have life, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is reason enough for joy.

Earth - our home. She is our mother and our keeper. Respect her and be kind to her. Give back to her equally that which you take from her for she sustains us in her bounty. 

Wishing each of you endless reasons to be grateful and endless reasons to be kind to one another. I am grateful to each of you for the life and love we share.

-Gillian Cornwall, October 13, 2013.

Oldfield Farm - Saanich, BC

c. Gillian Cornwall October 2012.

Autumn Gold

 The University of Victoria

All photos c. Gillian Cornwall, 2012.

The emerald greens have faded

The trees turn out their gold

Summer earnings spent

bearing fruit

or shady dealings 

with strangers

The basswoods blush

to a flaming red

for soon they will stand bare

aquiver in the autumn wind

The morning holds a chill

a nudge of what's to come

Though fifty times I've seen the face of fall

surprise and awe in every one

-Gillian Cornwall, c.September, 2013.

Autumn - giving thanks.

Pumpkin Perfection
c. Gillian Cornwall

 This is a perfect late September day. The morning air cool as a reminder of the harvest days ahead. I throw my mind one hundred and fifty years to the past and envision myself on pastoral lands and villages built of the the stones dug from the fields by which they stand. 

Simpler times are what I crave, time spent in a kitchen preparing food for the winter months - a pot of soup set upon the stove, bubbling with the goodness picked steps from the cottage door. I know I've idolized it and it was work, hard work then, but was there not more time, more direct contact with our needs and survival? I want to go right to the farm for the food upon my table but the journey to the farm has become a treat, a special occasion, an adventure too far without a car so I wait for the times when I will be taken there and I dream of the land, the red leaves of the blueberry bushes in the distance and the song of the sheep and the cattle. I dream of the sensation of the cool, earth-damp squash or potato in my hands, fresh from the ground below my feet. 

It is autumn and I recognize the gifts from the land. Fill my glass with BC wine and I will lay a dish before you replete with the wonder of this place, my home.

-Gillian Cornwall, September 25, 2012.

The Blueberry Fields of West Saanich
c. Gillian Cornwall