Stay Golden

The chill in air belied the golden light.  I stepped out onto the curb, inhaled the crisp air and turned my face to the sun.  A small smile spread across my lips.


I love days like this.


I started my watch, more for time than for anything else, and headed down the street.   The sky was a clear bright blue which was tempered by the warm mellow glow of the late fall sun.  It was a perfect day for a long run.  I eased into a comfortable pace and made my way south towards the water.  The sun on my face and the rhythm of my breath was calming.  As I came to the top of the Riverside hill, I was struck by the beauty of the light across the Humber River Valley.

Humber River
Copyright Phaedra Kennedy 2011

Days like this make me truly appreciate being able to get out and run.  I'm truly lucky.

I stopped to walk along the edge of the valley.  I didn't have anywhere I needed to be so I stood for a while and savored the view.  The weather had been unseasonably mild for the last few weeks so there were still plenty of leaves on the trees.  Most of the red ones had gone leaving behind the seemingly hardier orange and yellow leaves.  This just amplified the sense of being enveloped in a warm golden glow.  As I continued along to the waterfront, I couldn't help but be reminded of the scene in the movie The Outsiders where Ponyboy recites Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay.  The character of the light in that scene was much like the character of the light this morning.  Sadly I knew that these days of glorious light would be short lived.  The impending grey of winter was looming.  Daylight savings time was upon us and the days would be shorter, nights longer and weather colder.

Nothing Gold Can Stay.


I headed east along the waterfront into a chilly wind.  The sun was still hanging fairly low on the horizon, taking it's time making its low arch across the sky.  I was running into the golden light, it's warmth being slightly overpowered by the wind.  I knew that by the time I turned around the light would be gone.

Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Lake Ontario
Copyright Phaedra Kennedy 2011

I continued my journey eastward, stopping a few times to appreciate the view of the lake.  I made my way out to the gates at Ontario Place and decided it was time to turn around.   The sun had climbed higher and the shadows had become shorter.  The golden light had faded into the clear bright blue of the sky.  The chilly wind was now at my back, nudging me home.  The magical light may have gone but what it left behind was just as beautiful in it's own right.

Nothing Gold Can Stay.


I climbed up the Riverside hill, huffing and puffing with the extra effort.   As I crested the top of the hill, I glanced down into the valley below.  A lone rower was gliding his way across the glass-like water towards the marsh.  He quietly disappeared behind the reeds, leaving a hint of a wake behind him.  Much like the golden light of fall, making way for the cold light of winter.