So I've returned to the northern hemisphere after 2½ months in the southern, and realised it's almost the time of the Equinox. That time of the midpoint, where the planet is rotating around our sun with its 2 poles equidistant from the sun. That time where if you are standing on the equator facing east, the sun would rise directly in front of you, and set directly behind you, and travel directly over your head. Nowhere else but on the equator on 2 days of the year does this happen - between the 19th-21st March, and again betweem 21st-24th September. One of each of these dates are recognised in Japan as national holidays each year. I find it fascinating. When you think about it, this is a day of balance, a day where things are at the midpoint, the planet, the seasons, the length of the day, (roughly) 12 hours of day, and 12 hours of night. That liminal moment when everything is equal. When the season on one side of the planet is readying for winter and the other is preparing for summer. Having just travelled half way around the planet in both directions (side and hemisphere) it's intriguing to notice the differences. Last week I was watching new life bursting forth, a mighty oak's leaves sprouting and displaying amazing greens, blossom trees coated in their various shades of pinks through white while gums were displaying their unique 'gumnut' flowers. Rhododendrons putting on amazing displays, and wattles daubing the mountainside in yellows like none other. And today? I am looking up at trees, still coated in their green leaves I watched sprout last April and May, are now displaying hints of the yellows that will soon take over. Grapes ripened and ready to fall as the leaves are also preparing to drop, and branches of the apple tree bowed low under the weights of late croppings, soon to fall and followed closely by their leaves. Nature follows its patterns without instruction or direction from us. The Earth continues to turn, the angle changing as it follows its orbit around the Sun. The plant life on half the planet will go into its dormancy, while on the other half will begin to ready for harvesting.