Autumn

"Life has been your art. 

You have set yourself to music. 

Your days are your sonnets."

Oscar Wilde

"Delicious autumn!

My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth

seeking the successive autumns.

George Eliot

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace,

as I have seen in one autumnal face."

John Donne

"Youth is like spring,

an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes.

Autumn is the mellower season,

and what we lose in flowers

we more than gain in fruits."

Samuel Butler

My zinnias have faded, the autumn sedum is in full bloom and I anxiously await the changing of the leaves here in North Alabama.  Autumn is my favorite time of the year for it's a freshening of air, a clarity of breezes, and the leaves look like flowers.  Happy Autumn!

The Art of Leaves

There is simply no excuse to not go outside and play with the camera. These days find me with more and more time on my hands as the Hubs is recuperating nicely yet it's too soon to take a day-long road trip. Our backyard isn't filled with particularly interesting bits. Or......is it?


The November sun is angled perfectly through the remaining leave structure clinging to the multiple trees along the fence line. The leaves that will be turned to mulch soon call me one afternoon. While Baylee romped and played with sticks I twirled and held up interesting leaves into the light.

Same leaves, different angles, differing lighting.

Their beauty astounds me.

The siding creates a lovely backdrop.

Front then back.

Golden bokeh.

This one sort of reminds me of a horse's head.

Sunlight and leaf.

Even the most mundane of objects can be found beautiful and interesting when shown in a different light. More can be found on my Facebook if you're interested. Just click the link.

Scenic Sunday

Sugar Maples
Rogersville, Alabama

GATHERING LEAVES

by Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer

Running away.

But the mountains I raise

Elude my embrace,

Flowing over my arms

And into my face.

I may load and unload

Again and again

Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,

And since they grew duller

From contact with earth,

Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.

But a crop is a crop,

And who's to say where

The harvest shall stop?

Our yard has suddenly become crackly and crunchy. The time of leaf gathering in our neighborhood has begun in earnest, yet I am waiting for them all to fall. Why do the job 3 times or more when I can do it once? Actually, we are going to use the mulching mower and shred those delightful leaves into mulch for the ground beneath which begs for nutrients. Last year I counted no less than a dozen really odd mushrooms, and the soil is packed down and coated with green. Time to send some scoops of soil to Auburn for evaluation to see what it's lacking and what's needed to replenish it. In the meantime, God's bountiful gift from His trees are a good beginning. Happy Autumn!

Be sure to stop by Scenic Sunday to see more lovely sights from around the world!

New England Asters

Gulf Fritillary
New England Asters
October 14, 2002
Sony Cybershot

We moved to the lake house in December 2001. Before the house was built I'd marked areas where flower beds would be created so that the sod guys wouldn't lay sod there. Right by the garage, in the showiest corner of the yard, I planted these New England Asters. They were a passalong plant from my mom, who had an original from her own mother's yard. These are family plants growing and blooming several generations later.

As best I know the term "passalong plants" might'a been coined by Steve Bender (Southern Living Magazine) and Felder Rushing (King of his own domain). They wrote a book together, published 1993, called Passalong Plants. My mom gave me a copy long ago. I've seen both these gentleman give talks at Master Gardener events and the like and I've never laughed so much in my life. They are truly artists at giving talks about that which they love best - gardening. They are both Characters, completely deserving the capital "C!" But, I digress.

This passalong plant was at first completely well behaved but over time it grew huge and ungainly, and even began dying in the circle so now it looks like a big donut. Every July I whack it nearly to the ground, whereby it pouts for a bit before bushing up perfectly rounded in time for autumn, filled to overflowing with blooms. And it's a good thing, too.

Because the butterflies and bees adore this plant! The second year it was in the ground it bloomed heavily, profusely, abundantly. That is when I discovered butterflies, really. Never noticed them much before, but when this Gulf Fritillary landed and began sipping I was enchanted. The Sony Cybershot was fairly new then and had an annoying shutter delay but eventually I got this shot. Only 5 megapixel and the colors are a little wonky, but it's a cool shot filled with wonderful memories of that first October at the lake house with my passalong New England Aster, discovering butterflies. Ah, bliss.

Brand New Day

Spicebush Swallowtails in Love

The past couple of mornings I've waken up to the repeated high pitched call of a single large bird. That's an assumption of course because I cannot see the bird but can indeed hear its single, shrill, loud, sharp ear-splitting call over and over and over for about 30 minutes. Two mornings in a row in the pre-dawn gloom, the only light in the room filtering in gray and flat through the blinds, and this single-minded vocalization reverberating through the skies.

So I lie there and listen until the song is finished. Afterwards, I rise as the other birds begin nervous twitterings.

Yesterday, I watched two nuthatches clamber up and down a tree in my front yard.

There are dirt fairy circles in the yard. Perfect circles made in the dry earth by some creature, about the size of a frisbee. I've no explanation.

The cardinals are feeding in the backyard. Squirrels are gathering nuts.

One early evening I saw bats flying. I adore bats. Lord knows we've enough mosquitoes to keep them happy.

There are entirely too many chipmunks here. They dig up my flower pots and scurry across the patio driving Baylee wild.

I've seen butterflies galore. The spicebush swallowtails above, a red spotted purple, hackberry emperors and scads of sulphers looking for all the world like pats of butter.

Soon, I'll begin fitting the backyard with bird-attracting feeders and a birdbath. Wouldn't a fire pit be fun to have on the patio? Time to embrace this place as we'll be here for a while. It's not a bad place it's just not my place, but for the time being it is the perfect place for us to heal and be. Nature is all around me, even in the city limits. I must be still and open my eyes and heart.

Finding ones bliss by accepting things as they are, then "bloom where (one) is planted," seems key to happiness. Enjoy the transition of the seasons.

Finally....Butterflies

Where've they been?

IMG_0001

My new Canon 20D arrived in November, 2005. I'd been using my husband's Sony Cybershot so much that he realized I needed my own camera. A 20D had been my dream so he made it my reality. After finally learning how to insert the flashcard without damaging anything (I was a little nervous) the first subject of my first 20D shoot were the blazing red Bradford Pear trees lining the entrance to our subdivision.

This shot was the very first image taken with my Canon 20D. This is Straight Out Of The Camera. No Photoshopping done here except to change the image to a more reasonable size for publishing.

These days find me at the computer more working toward an exciting future. One day I'll post about it but for now I'll be showing you various older works (haven't I done this before? LOL!) so that I can keep in touch.

So this was it - the first shot. The first shot of gazillions, but still one of my favorites.

Autumn 2008

The leaves are mostly gone and tree branches are silhouettes in the gray skies these days. The other morning during the predawn I was lying on my side watching the lake wake up, all cozy beneath tons of blankets when I saw a man looking back at me. It wasn't a real man, but a tree man created by layers of leaves and branches in oaks and hickories between our house and the lake. His eye was very detailed with an iris and pupil and a perfect eyebrow. His hair was created by the filigreed tendrils of a shagbark hickory. There was the suggestion of a nose and the beautiful curve of his upper lip. He was very handsome, this tree man. His head was cocked as though resting upon a pillow. If I moved in the slightest the tree man would come undone, so I laid there as long as I could watching him watching me until my right side started tingling from lack of movement. I thought later that I would try to capture him with my camera, so I went back to the bedroom, laid down and tried to find him. He was gone. The wind was blowing by then and the leaves and branches were buffling about.

I'm not ready to let go of autumn. The golden hickories and red oaks and yellow maples and ragged buckeyes still call to me from my Autumn 2008 photo file. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

falling leaves

hide the path

so quietly

John Bailey

Autumn haiku

Virginia Sweetspire in Autumn's blush

Autumn brings such joy. Yes, the trees and shrubs are going to sleep for the winter, but while they slumber above their roots are stretching and growing beneath the surface, ensuring a surge of physical growth next year. This transition is necessary for most plants though there are some who do not require it depending upon the variety and zone. I'm not talking about annuals, of course and this isn't really about Botany anyway. For most plants downtime is necessary for future growth.

This truism translates well into the human existence. Quiet, reflective time is necessary for our bodies and souls. An artist cannot create their art without allowing time to stop and soak up Life experiences. A writer cannot write without observing and experiencing the ebb and flow of our world. To do these things one must make time to sit and look or read, smell, hear and taste. A song writer and musician eventually must face that blank page, which may come after months or years of touring. That is the time one creates, and is the time most fear, but it indeed comes at a time of stillness. This is probably why Sting won't stop touring as he's admitted a fear of that blank page, but I digress. Time of reflection, observation, meditation, reading, listening, tasting, hearing and really seeing is mandatory for our inner expansion and awareness.

It is in those quiet moments that our ideas and thoughts begin to stretch and grow beneath the surface so when the spring of our creativity comes these ideas are ready to burst forth into the world much like the flowers we so adore.

Kaleidoscope

This is my favorite Sweetgum shot and shows more the variety of colors that can be observed. Draping elegantly over the Elk River, this particular tree fringes a mossy limestone bank pitted with small caves. We love to take sunset cruises along these banks and watch the wildlife come to the water. Raccoons especially come to wash their hands and get a drink before dinner. Sometimes, during summer months, we'll be cruising late enough to see the mayflies erupt from the lake's surface. While that process is ethereally beautiful in its own right, there's nothing fun about running through mayflies. Happy Autumn!

Pale Yellow

Sweet Gum Tree

Sybil Johnson

This tree's sap smells like heaven to me

Of course there are other names for this wonderful tree

But it grows so inconspicuously

And admid all of the other trees

This memory if first for me

The smell of the sap from the sweet gum tree.

Sweetgums Red

Autumn Fires

Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!

October 31, 2006

Merlot Sweetgum Leaves

Time for a change of scenery. October 2006, autumn. Specifically, a crisp autumnal Halloween afternoon. My father-in-law wasn't doing well and had been staying with me, us, for quite some time. When I had a moment I would look outside and watch the leaves turn, wishing I were outside among the parade of leaves instead of inside with heartache and sadness.

Flash back - A years-ago conversation with my mother-in-law was running around and around in my head. She and my father-in-law were visiting and I'd decided to take her shopping. Waiting for traffic to allow access onto the 4-lane highway into town I was focused on driving and the task at hand. My mother-in-law was so quiet and still during the wait even as I gripped the wheel in anxiety. As I fussed inwardly about the heavy traffic she spoke up and said "what a remarkable tree that is across the road. Every color in the palette is there - blue, red, purple, yellow, orange and green - it's amazingly beautiful." I look across the street and there blazed the lowly Sweetgum tree in the fall light. Sweetgums are those trees with the spiny balls that drop in autumn and make walking barefoot hazardous to any Southern gal. Finally able to merge into the traffic we make our way into town, shop and return. I say nothing about the tree.

Back to October, 2006. Miracle of miracles, my kind and sweet mother comes a'knocking on the door with a gift. Her gift - "go out and play with your camera and I'll stay with Bill for a while."

Tears glazing my eyes and a quick hug for my mom I do just that, hungry for the riot of autumn, music loud in my car, feeling freedom and light for just a little while. And what do I do? I go out in search of the lowly Sweetgum in hopes I can find the palette that captivated my mother-in-law years ago.

I find it across the street, in a nearby park, and on a local river tributary. I load my flash card with images and drink in the light, the smells, the sounds of leaves falling and crunching beneath my feet, the sound of the river, and the Fall Light and cobalt skies. I'm only out an hour or so, but it was enough to refresh me and give my soul a boost of energy.

My mother, my touchstone, gave me such a gift that day. The gift of time and travel, of breathing and feeling, of smelling and touching and tasting life. One cannot put a price on that. My father-in-law died 6 months after my day in the autumn light. My mother-in-law is still with us but no longer paints and doesn't recognize the sweetgums. Every autumn I think of them both, of that day and light and the sounds of autumn. Those experiences changed me on a molecular level. Many of you know that feeling of permanent change.

I want you to see the photos I took that one day, that one hour, where I changed so much. This is the first, these merlot-purple leaves of the lowly sweetgum tree.

Golden Tree Hour

The change of light that comes with autumn and early winter turns our naked trees into spires of gold. Beginning around 4pm we all gather at our windows, on our decks or on the lake to watch the spectacle. As the sun sinks lower on the horizon the trees start to glow like luminaries and remain this rich hue until the sun sets below the treeline. We have come to celebrate the hour by popping a cork. "Come on over for the Golden Tree Hour!" "Is it the Golden Tree Hour yet?" You get the idea. Yet one more thing to love about this place. Toasting the tree's beauty and the stillness of late autumn is, as Diane at Alberta Photography calls it, "Life's Sweet Ordinary."

Cheers.

Orange

This morning dawned chilly and still, with temperatures in the low 40's. A ghostly mist is rising from the warm lake, shrouding everything in mystery. The barge's thrumming engines reached our ears long before its silhouette emerged from the fog. Autumn is a magical time. Pumpkin orange mornings match the orange mums appearing in cheery pots on front porches, matching the orange tips on the leaves, matching the orange Jack O'Lanterns appearing all around from local pumpkin patches. I love October.

Autumn

Nancy at Soliloquy has made me hungry for Autumn with its

smokey smells, crisp air and jeweled colors.