Safe Harbors In The Bleakest Of Weather

THE WARMEST place in Canada as winter approaches is generally southwest BC. It is also a time when rain seems to pour down endlessly from the skies. When there is a break in the dampness an icy chill can set in. Hands wrapped in mittens now hold umbrellas. Frost nips at the edges of coastal life.

Boats are tucked into safe harbors. Only a few adventurers will go out when the waters get choppy.

Parks empty as visitors drop off one by one like leaves from the branches of trees. Avid walkers step more briskly past vacant benches.

Strutting birds will huddle with other birds no longer warmed just by their own feathers. Everything sheds ... everything falls into a messy muddle. The thorny, frail and brittle land in a heap of dust at our feet.

To me autumn is the most striking and profound of seasons. The yearly cleansing of clutter opens windows and makes horizons visible again.

And although things will likely get worse before they get better, have we not all heard summer ring with bright expectations like a faint bell around the corner of every winter?

Perhaps snow will fall as it has more frequently these past winters. But it will not be crisp or white for long. Soon it will mix with showers. Snowmen will droop. Toboggans will get stuck in brown muddy puddles. But the imagination will flourish ... particularly for people who are nourished by the rain.

Creativity is a year-round harbor that was taken indoors this weekend at the Ocean Park Hall in South Surrey.

The Semiahmoo Potters were showing their wares as they do each December. Earthy colors were on display. The work was nature inspired.

There were many ornaments from which to choose. I came away with a single word that speaks to me and I hope to you, too, even in the bleakest of weather.

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Copyright by Penelope Puddlisms