Intertwined Reflections on the Season

Musings on autumn and embracing all its wonders.

After last week’s focus on Christmas, we’re pulling it back into autumn, and trying something new this week, with musings on the season not just from me, but also

Jenna Nicole Stevens

.

Jenna is a poet, having published some beautiful books, and her Substack,

Letters of Everyday Romance

, is as aesthetically pleasing as it is both wistful and joyful.

Her latest title, Conversations & Coffee Under the Maple Trees, sounds like the ideal read for this time of year - and if the cover is anything to go by, the photography featured throughout will be beautiful too.

Photograph by Lana Cole (@elcyphotos on Instagram).

Like

Dr Nia D Thomas

and

Catriona Knapman

, Jenna is another writer I connected with through the

Sparkle on Substack

community, and when I heard her new book was going to centre around a season I love, it felt like a lovely opportunity to invite Jenna to collaborate on something for

The Navigation

.

And so here we are, each sharing some musings on autumn, with an encouragement for you to reflect on your own relationship with the season too.

🍁 Jenna: For me, an avid summer lover, September was always a time full of dread. The descent into darkness, both physically and sometimes mentally, always sat on my shoulder as I bid summer an unwanted farewell.

🍂 Lauren: On the flip side, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sadness around the end of summer. I love easing into autumn as soon as those slightly crisper mornings descend in early September. The older I get, the more I have noticed the positive effects of longer days and the power of sunshine, but the darkness of autumn (and even winter) has, thankfully, never felt burdensome to me.

🍁 Jenna: Fast forward to a few years ago, I began my journey to embracing the colder months. Funnily enough, autumn is now one of my favourite times of the year. When I started writing poetry, I started to notice the subtle beauty that autumn had to offer, rather than just allowing myself to wallow in my sadness that summer was over.

🍂 Lauren: I’ve dabbled in poetry only a little, and not really shared publicly, but I think living with a writer’s mind, whether it be poetry or prose, definitely makes us a more aware being; subconsciously thinking about how you might later describe something as you more consciously notice how beautiful it is. And even for someone who doesn’t have that relationship with writing, autumn is perhaps the most iconic season in which to notice subtle beauties. A single leaf can be sporting five different hues of a sort of golden amber. Magic.

🍁 Jenna: Now, I lean into autumn’s cosy sheets, and embrace the darker, cooler days and let them wrap me in a velvet blanket. On the days when I don’t want to leave the house and want to cocoon myself in my duvet, I remind myself of how beautiful the leaves look as they change colour and dance to the ground. And I guess it helps having an energetic two-year-old husky who needs several walks a day… Otherwise dragging myself outside would sometimes be difficult!

🍂 Lauren: Regardless of the season, I always try to get outside for a walk every day - even if it is only just ten minutes on those cold, dark, rainy evenings, after an already long day at work. When the outside setting features annoying puddles you don’t see in the dark, and crashing umbrellas with others trying to get by on the street, it can be hard to romaticise. But, it does make getting back indoors, with the warm blankets and candles to light, all the sweeter.

🍁 Jenna: To me, autumn is soft woollen jumpers on skin, piles of mustard and russet leaves on the pavement, baking sweet treats and lots of homemade soups. It’s allowing ourselves to soften into the darkness. As the days really begin to grow darker now, I am lighting candles and adding on extra soft layers.

🍂 Lauren: The soft layers and woollen jumpers are so much of what this season is about for me. Even as a child, I would be excited by thick socks and new boots, scarves you want to sleep in and PJs you want to wear all day. Me at 30 is no different. I love embracing different textures at this time of year, and enjoy knowing that the need for them will only grow as temperatures continue to dip.

🍁 Jenna: I’m also leaning into the practice of hygge once again. Something I got into a few years ago, I guess like a lot of people, as the prominence of the concept grew in the UK. Hygge, for anyone new to the concept, is a Danish word that roughly translates to the art of creating cosy, intimate settings, with a focus on comfort — predominantly relating to life’s simple pleasures. For me, embracing the idea really helped in finding those small pleasures that brought a little light into each day, as my love for autumn grew.

🍂 Lauren: Also a fan of hygge, and really the underlying simplicity of it. A blanket and a book, a candle and a cuppa, and you’ve nailed it. We’re so used to seeing it played out aesthetically now, I think, and sometimes forget to notice or appreciate the feeling that hygge is all about. The joy of those simple pleasures. Acknowledging how they make a life good.

To round us off, here’s a piece from Jenna’s latest book, Conversations & Coffee Under the Maple Trees…

cosy days / knitted blankets / moody fog / fallen leaves crunching underfoot / evenings drawing in / crisp mornings / rainy nights / pumpkin picking / sitting on the porch, hot coffee in hand / woodland walks / foliage spotting / that new book smell / cinnamon candles flickering at dawn / apple picking / stormy afternoons muddy boots and flannel shirts / a sense of peace

Seasonal hues.

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Thanks once again to Claire Venus and all taking part in the Sparkle on Substack 24 Essays Club for the encouragement to write in new ways.