A magical Saturday

I love Saturdays… have I mentioned that before? Oh yes, I've said it a million times before and I'll probably say it a million more. But what can I do? Saturdays, like autumn, bestow opulence and magic upon the earth, and I love every minute of every hour of every Saturday…. and this last Saturday of October was especially magical…. It truly was!

We woke up in Portland. Breakfast at Noah's Bagels, with a lightly roasted Chelsea coffee, flavored with vanilla and hazelnut… the rainy night had been replaced by a misty morning and outside our window the world is wet and grayish-blue, carefree and romantic and I’m here, with the man I love...

Witches were everywhere too, one of them stopped by to say hi… It was the morning of Halloween, and green eye cats flew by with their witches on their ragged broom...

After breakfast we headed out to the rose garden, but first we went for our customary morning stroll through lovely and tranquil little streets with enchanted path down to mossy slopes and gorgeous historic homes in the Victorian and Craftsman styles… sweet powerful feelings bring me to this house every time we're in Portland. Do you think maybe I could had lived here before? I mean, in another time far from my own time maybe? 

I had never been to the rose garden in the autumn. There is something magical lingering in the air. It’s the end of October --the month of enchantment and delightful endeavors--, the garden sleeps under a magical spell, it doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t smell the same, no petals in bright reds to enchant, no lovely pinks or morning sun yellows to captivate the eye… only faded beauty and roses of yesterday in some fragrant treasure chest hidden in my memory.

No, today things are different, only the unthinkable become noticeable; the eternal remains… the garden is blanketed in a quiet repose, not a soul to be seen, charmed ripples of water at my feet… a light mist falling down from the sky, like playful fingers on my hair, and at the end of a path, slick with leaves and cold with damp (can you see it?), a fairy’s house stands midst the sleepy heads of Heaven on Earth now past their prime, and tiny goblins and leprechaun are dancing where the April in Paris used to sing like little birds back in May…

Between the woozy sun and light mist, grasses and soaring trees are whispering tiny things…. Only I can hear it –I thought– but suddenly, there she was, like an apparition! And I knew all too well she could hear it too!

Who was she? Where had she come from? Alone and mysterious, amidst the faded glories in the quiet garden, unique yet unprepossessing, I immediately fell under her spell. A walk together with my man, without an umbrella, stomping in the puddles beneath drooping leaves was already enchantment--overflowing enchantment! But I’m subdued by her spell, and unable to follow any other path but the one that leads to her, as in a trance, I hurry to meet her... Even more mysterious things happened then.... but that's another story to tell... "Some day shall we two try to find this strange enchanted place? Go hand in hand through flower-lit woods where living trees embrace--and suddenly, as in a dream, behold a fairy's face!" (Author Unknown.)

Rainy misty days are so romantic… my hair is damped, our fingers entwined, and far away in the greenest hill I discovered --we’re not alone-- another couple divinely indivisible!

What a delightful feeling the garden bestows, rivulets of enchantment falling down from the sky in tiny musky fairy dust… heavy and delicate together. Then the Shakespeare Garden opens to us, and there they were: 

The sleepy hydrangeas whispering and waving, colorless among the ferns and fairy leaves as big as elephant ears. Trees... greens, dark and subtle…

The world is an enchanted place, nature fragile and fading, the leaves bleached of color and ready to flutter off at the first strong wind... everywhere I look, a magical universe is waiting to be discovered.

Then, more magic: A secret fairy path covered with fallen autumn leaves....

It leads to a place of wonders... I follow the leave covered trail, sweetness pours from everywhere, flutes and mist fill the air… Leaves the color of golden-yellow, crisp and curled, brown, gold and tan with the suns kiss, a precious web, or butterfly wing…

A woman-no, a woman-child frolics with invisible sprites and soars among autumn leaves... What could be more alluring than the thought of walking amidst falling leaves on the already leaf-covered ground?

Oh yes, today is not the beauty of the roses what delights… is the charm that comes with autumn and the conjuring mystery and thrill that comes with the falling leaves and the color of the autumnal land…

Oh, most beautiful day and season!