So last week it felt like we arrived into Autumn. We had a lovely couple of weeks of warmth, maybe reminding us what we missed in late summer! Then the colder winds arrived & today the rain is coming down in sheets. Early Autumn brings some beautiful sights…the birds flying home to warmer climates (they’ve the right idea there!) & harvest time. It’s a time of year where we start to eat root vegetables rather than salad. Where we rediscover the snuggly jumpers and thicker socks. The time for crumbles & custard!
It’s when fruit is in abundance. Especially apple trees. Now it’s only last year I noticed the latter! You may think how obvious apple trees are in orchards & gardens throughout the UK. These apple trees though are the ones you only really notice at this time of year when their branches are full of apples. These are the ones by the sides of roads … I imagine grown from an apple core thrown from a car window!! They are often noticeable on slip roads onto motorways, there’s one as you come on the A50 after the little roundabout from the M6/56 Lymm junction. I think that was my first I noticed, then, once my eyes were open to looking I see them everywhere I drive.
I love them as they make me smile. A small insight into the people who, like me, love the crunch of an apple while driving & would rather throw the core into a hedge than a bin! They give me hope.. evidence that something good, something fruitful, can grow from what others view as waste. They are a little beacon of natures’ bounty in hedgerows throughout the often rubbish strewn highways of England. They distract me from the rubbish & remind me to focus on the good things.
They remind me to look. At other times of year, they are less noticeable. Obviously there is blossom in Spring but unless you’re very knowledgeable on your blossom could you identify apple blossom as you pass in a car? It’s this time when the fruit is obvious that I notice them. This time of harvest, of early Autumn. The nights are drawing in & days getting colder. The scarves & gloves are found from the backs of drawers. I start to miss the sunshine. Then I see my first apple tree at the side of the road…..
They remind me to see the positive. Showing that we plant seeds often without realising it. Reminding me that throw away comments (or apple cores) can take root & grow amazing things. Reminding me to notice nature as I drive. To feel part of a community of drivers that eat apples!! They somehow lighten this time of year for me.
