IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR....

Look at those colors, and that's a small sample.

What a splendid time of year! The air seems clearer. Cleaner somehow. The sky is even blue-er, if that's a word. The path is wide open, safe, and carpeted with crunchy leaves that are still fun to scuffle through, even as an adult. Those gorgeous colors, and this is but a small sample, as Jamie and I took a stroll out on the trails between Bear River to New Zealand. It's about an 8 km hike, so what a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours on a perfect fall day.

The scene changed at every turn. And of course everyone knows that the Confederation Trail was built on the original railroads tracks on P.E.I.

How I wish I had taken a couple of train rides on this trail back in the day. The final ride was in 1989, so not that long ago. I was a young mother with my fourth child born that year, so I guess we were busy.

But still............the path is crazy straight and even and a pleasure to walk and bike. How amazing travelling by train must have been!

The Island is such a beautiful place, serene and safe at every turn. A couple of days after Jamie and I walked it, Donna and I walked it again, and we've also biked all these trails, from Elmira to Tracadie, in pieces. I absolutely love it. No trees where I grew up and where I live, so I guess that's what appeals to me. I feel safe and at peace when walking among these giants.

There's many varieties of trees of course, and all so beautiful

at this time of year. I guess that's they mean about an Acadian forest, healthier when mixed.

But you'd never go hungry either, when walking about. Apple trees galore, and we passed more than one field of blueberry brambles, bright red now with the fruit removed and their job for the year done. And a sweet little partridge crossed the path right in front of us, probably searching for any leftovers. There were several bogs, so I would expect cranberries nearby.

I often wonder who is lucky enough to own these properties.

Now here is a sample of Maple tree leaves, that I picked here on the Lower Road this morning as we took our regular walk to the church and back.

Verdant green, still can be found at the bottom of a tree where the sun can't get at it. Then various shades of rust and red, sweet oranges and then soft yellows. They would be hard to match even on a color wheel.

Of course, the thinking used to be that the leaves turned color when they were hit with frost, but we know this not to be true. When the days start to get shorter with fewer hours of sunlight, the leaves can't make the chlorophyll necessary to keep their leaves a healthy green. So the true colors of a tree start to slide through. Maples I think, have the most beautiful array of colors. Beech for instance, and from observation, seem to just slip from green to brown then yellow. Birch too. The ditches are full of alders that glow with that ripe wine color. How sad we will be when the fall winds whirl about and force every tree to give up their cloaks of colors and leave them on the ground. The forest will have that peculiar greyness, in between seasons, before everything is white and quiet.

But for now, what a feast for the senses:

The smells in the deep woods are intoxicating.

The sights are amazing and too many to count.

The quiet deep in the woods is a balm to the soul. I can sing to my heart's content, with no one to comment.

To touch a great tree and rub it's bark, what a gift.

Snag one of those wild apples or berries, and taste the honest goodness that knows no interference. How does an apple tree spring up in the middle of the Confederation Trail anyway? No accident, I don't imagine. Any bird can eat from an apple tree somewhere, then poop in the woods, and voila! An apple tree.

Or a passenger on board one of the trains back at the turn of the century, enjoying their lunch, could finish it off with a nice crunchy apple, then toss the core off the side. Next year, with the right conditions, a new tree.

All I know is, I got a great walk in, confirming my sense of peace in a turbulent world.

I got to watch leaves falling gently to the ground, moved about by a gentle warm fall breeze. The beautiful tall tree, always female to me, did a strip tease for us, as she disrobed in preparation for her winter's nap. In the spring, she will awaken nude, with a new wardrobe in bud.

And we'll be ready..........