This is one of the few look-offs on the Saint John River just up river from home. A beautiful spot but the turning leaves are not too obvious yet.
Here the oak leaves on single tree have changed to a deep red and the green ones are just showing the stain of autumn changes. The Maple trees however are in full regalia of reds and yellows.
It is gorgeous time of year, and one that I can easily overlook because it is the beginning of "show season". The weeks get a little bit busier because we're making jewellery for the shows and the shows are more plentiful now, taking up a full weekends with days on each side for travel rather than just a Saturday here or there.
Autumn is a season of celebration for many as it is a time of Thanksgiving for the bountiful harvests of the gardens and crops.
We planted squash in a compost pile this year, we didn't have great expectations as we figured the squirrels would get to the seed before they could germinate. Germinate they did and as a result of the nutrient rich compost, the vines grew well over 20' in some cases. This good sized squash is on a vine that climbed a small fir tree near the patch
A honey bee is making the effort to gather nectar from a golden-rod.
Crab apples at the ready await processing for the jelly jar.
The last of the bunchberries, which also makes delicious jellies, awaits harvest by birds or even the bear.
Autumn can also be a time of discontent as we slip from our long summer days to cooler shorter days and the changes denote the impending transition to the cold darker winter months but when spring does start to arrive the dried sumac blossoms are still in place for the first robins who feast upon them with gusto.
So instead of rushing through fall and into winter, I took the time to wander around our yard and enjoy the late blooming flowers and the changes in the foliage and to realize that the sky is the most vibrant blue and clear of haze, while the clouds are crisp whites and greys.
Painted daisies still bloom in our gardens.
Delicate poppies and ferny cosmos outlasted the summer heats and rains and early light frosts and have only now started to bloom and share their colours.
I have always liked cosmos, they have a sweet scent, but mostly because they were always in my grandmother's gardens and they remind me of her.
The nasturtiums, a peppery edible flower and leaf, are still glowing with colours that will rival the leaves until we have a hard frost that will lay the poor annuals low and mark the end of their season.
But the delicate pink tinged blossoms of the hydrangea can be harvested and dried and brought inside for a winter long bouquet that promises us the renewal of spring and all the opportunities for life that it brings.
--
--
