I recently reread the book Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, a scientist who studies plants and trees. It’s a wonderful book about human relationships, our relationship with nature, nature’s indifference to us, and mental health. In the book she talks about how trees and plants don’t depend on the weather to tell them when it’s time to start preparing for winter, they depend on the length of the days and nights. Although they have a whole network of roots and fungi helping them communicate and keep vigilant against invaders.

We are in a season where the days are shortening. September is often still hot and summery here in Memphis, though it’s been quite rainy lately. I’ve noticed the oak trees beginning to shed some of their thousands of leaves and acorns. I also turned 64 this month, and I felt like shedding some of the mental weight I’ve been carrying around. The aging process is so challenging, especially with my degenerative disability. I feel like I need to shed the expectations of youth, but I’m not quite sure what will the new season will bring. I’m not aging like I expected, and my disability is so rare, my doctors can’t accurately predict how I will age. I know in the past few years I’ve become completely dependent on using a wheelchair, which restricts where I can go and how I can get there. I like to imagine I’m becoming a tree.

I live in a city that is not prepared or easy to navigate as one ages, no matter the circumstances of how you age. But wheelchair users find their world particularly small.

I watch daily as the oak tree in my yard prepares for winter, as my summer garden browns, and prepares for the shorter, colder days.

I was playing around with watercolor and created this little painting in my sketchbook to add color to some of my confused thoughts, to add color to the whole process. Whatever happens, the seasons will change. We’ll rotate farther then closer again to the sun. Always there will be color in my life and a network of people close by so I can tap into their resources and live as fully as each season allows.

~~~

Thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share it, if you’d like.

This blog is brought to you by the generosity of people who support me on Patreon , buy my art, and who support me in so many different ways.

If you’d like to make a one time donation, you can do so at paypal

Cards and prints of some of my art is available on Redbubble.  Also T-shirts and stickers and other odds and ends. When you click an image, in the lower right hand corner you’ll find a link to all the various products that these are printed on. If you have any trouble finding what you’re looking for, let me know. joyzmailbox@gmail.com

You can subscribe to this blog by email in the link below this post.

If you find a typo, let me know, and I’ll send you a postcard.