Autumn Days

Autumn in Stereo

It is that time of the year again when morning mists and falling leaves make running so perfect. No humid heat to fuel perspiration nor the clammy cold of winter. Still in shorts but with gloves and a hat to fend off the morning chill. Yesterday I ran around the forest and was regaled by mirror images of the trees in the flat calm of the loch. Images that looked better than the real thing. Today I went out again with the camera to see if I could capture the subdued beauty of autumn. I had Aillen with me as a pacemaker on a bike, checking to see if my eulogies of yesterday were true.

The mists were still hovering over the loch, the leaves were turning, a red squirrel scooted across my path, and the river was back to normal flow after the rains of last week. I was running easily, seizing the chance to escape the bike on all the uphill sections and for the most part, keeping up on the flats. The end of summer always conjures a melancholy about the way that time and years ebb away. It reminds me of Who Knows Where the Time Goes by Sandy Denny, a favourite track that becomes more poignant with each passing year after retirement when you are able to observe the passing of time uncorked from the imagined urgency of the world of work.

I ran for over an hour and covered about 8 miles, my appetite for breakfast had been triggered and the feeling of achievement was real. A good foundation for all the other tasks that I had set myself from chopping wood, and cutting lawns to clearing mail.

Mountain ash

Bracken on the cusp of autumn

The mirror image is better

Reflections of a lochan

Keep up pacemaker

Placid autumn on Lochan Spling