Autumn passes quickly
Autumn brings a variety of things to many people. This is one of my favorite seasons. Like Springtime, I can "smell" it coming, not new buds and a rebirth of scenery of course, rather the smell of drying leaves, and the presence of a misty hue hovering just over the morning horizon. Here are just a few things off the top of my head I'm enjoying this week...
**I love the bursts of color along landscapes near our home and everywhere we go lately. There are
"Monet" perfect scenes grabbing our attention and it's not difficult to figure out why tourists pay money to drive along "scenic fall routes" with
AAA guide books in hand, or take a scenic fall cruise along the St. Lawrence Seaway to Boston or New York City as we saw along the shores of Old Quebec City.
Fall Color Cruise time in Old Quebec city**I love the feel of cooler weather, and no more awful humidity. We've become accustomed to the challenge of a super hair poof while it is present in the summertime, however by fall, we begin to look "normal" again.
**I love the feel of crunchy leaves underfoot while walking along nature paths and countryside roadways.
**I love how the farmers begin to harvest their crops long into the night, their familiar tractor sounds driving down our road with bright oscillating headlights blinking into our windows just as we lay in bed.
**I have such a grand appreciation for farming now, much more than ever before because I can witness how hard they work to get our food to the market and across shores to other lands. Farming bins are filled and attached to tractors in earnest. Our local feed mill is filled with the summer's gift of harvest right now, animal and bird feed plentiful for anyone hoping to grab it at its freshest peak.
**I love how there is a natural hush to the end of our days at hand, as if in total anticipation of the days becoming shorter again, or perhaps it's the body's subtle response to the season at hand, one offering relaxation and not feeling as though life is a rush to do everything while the day is bright and filled with longer hours to maintain outdoor activities.
**I love how the first frost offers our three acres of grass to settle into a dormant stage right ahead. Maybe only a few more lawn cutting weekends and it's done until Spring.
**I love how there are so many feast days falling into our calendars and how we try hard to find some way to entertain the idea of celebrating them, many of them, if not all in a simple fashion to the grandest when able. Memories are made of these.
Everyone attends power skating lessons**I love the return of quieter sports where the weather isn't a factor, like ice hockey, power skating, and getting back into the barn for horse riding lessons. A steamy hot cup of something in my hand takes the chill away in no time at all, perhaps a blanket to wrap around my legs when the cold begins to nip at my legs in the arena.
Go Canucks Go!
Power skating lesson**I love seeing our sweet husky dog's regrowth of incredible fur coat for the approach of winter, taking a peak late at night at the barn to see her sprawled out on the ground so happy to have cool air surrounding her again. She just perks right up instead of melting with the summer sun.
**I love to organize boots, shoes, and flip all the cooler clothing from the rubbermaind bins, weeding out the old to offer the new (to them), washing and slipping my finds into the children's drawers, all useful for the season of winter ahead. Naturally one thing leads to another. All the drawers, closets, and even the sports equipment stash get sifted through, things get tossed or donated, and we're good to go when done.
Hanging out with nature; our new backyard??**I love to change-over the garage and barn, repacking all the summer items away until next year, washing the outdoor furniture, repotting outdoor plants in need of extra protection until Spring, taking the snow shovels out to place them in more appropriate areas for use soon enough.
I love how there is suddenly a better selection of teas on the market for sipping on cool days and keeping warm near the fire when darkness falls. Recently I acquired four boxes of
"Celestial Seasonings" teas;
Sugarplum Spice, Candycane Lane, Nutcracker Suite, and Gingerbread spice.**I love how the calendar doesn't seem so crazy anymore, not like it did when all the small squares were becoming filled up in September. Sure, there are other assorted schedules to commit to and firm up on our agendas, however by now, the mad pace of life seems to settle and allow for that extra cup of steamy tea in between. Nice.
**I love the return of schedules no matter how I shake the dice. I like to have order in my days, so the return of normalcy to me is everyone busily working at their primary vocation in life, four of the people in our homes are back to school, which is something involving the return of a harmonic household (believe me), rather than having everyone all over the map with me as the sole driver at the helm.
**l love knowing where I'm going in life, how the big picture is pieced together. I don't like seeing the
"For Sale" sign swaying gently on its white post, or knowing I will be moving before the new year. Actually we're thinking five weeks we'll be heading to another home, but the other home is still a blur yet, hopefully very soon we'll know... The lack of concrete knowledge creates an unsettling feeling deep in the pit of my belly. Soon though, I trust it will all come together in just the right way.
Until then, I will lap up this marvelous season upon us, anticipating only good things straight ahead.
With that in mind, I will join
Totus Tuus in the fall fun photo challenge titled; "Autumn passes quickly" and hope to capture what I can through the lens of my camera while I'm out and about over the next few weeks. Consider visiting her site to check out other participants and their photos from behind their lens. Thank you Alison for the kind invitation to join the fun, smitten with all the photo challenges from this past year so far...hugs.
Join the fun with us if you like, such fun.
Hello AutumnYou do pass us by so quickly
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Okay. Here we go....answers for you;
I completely forgot about the following photos! Okay, so I confess these were not snapped on my camera, for (gasp) it wasn't in my possession (read purse here) to grab for a few quick shots at these lovely and fun sightings. Take a looksy though, and imagine them at their best even if I did use my cell phone instead of my camera.
If you compare these to the photos located within my last post entitled; "Autumn passes quickly, #12", you will note there is most definitely a vast difference within the time periods presented between the two, especially according to the shades of color within each of them. Timeline wise, there are just a few weeks between both sets (these particular shots came first, the "forgotten ones"...).
Come on! Be brave! 
There aren't so many wonderful colors to enjoy up in the trees or down on the ground. Many are super wet and mushy after yesterday's torrential rains, almost slimy.
The race was on all week with farmers trying to beat the weatherman on rains due in our area. Cow corn remains in some of the fields and will until the end of the year, but for the most part, these bins were everywhere this week.
Row by row, farmers were rushing through their fields in a quest to get their crops in for the winter.
This farmer already brought in his crops for the winter and is on his last row of soil turnover.
Take me home, country roads. These country roads are filled with soy crops yet to be harvested.
I love driving through countrysides and spotting red barns. New or old they have character to me, and a history containing an entire family's livelihood, generation after generation in this part of the country. History reigns here and farming continues to bless us with local crops we can feast on.
We are noticing vast changes in our surroundings of late. Autumn does pass quickly, however with the super sunny days we've been blessed with this week, it feels like spring during the day, but definitely fall when temperatures plunge in the night. So lovely!
No more leaves
So beautiful!
This farmer has planted a crop of winter wheat
At the water's edge
Bountiful Harvests always include autumn pumpkins.
What would October be without a pumpkin or many hanging around the inside and outside of the house?
These are their choices this year
We used to grow ours in our backyard garden, laboring long and hard to cook and freeze the inner contents when we had had enough of the decor elements.
Trees with their leaves still attached are a rarity these days, especially after a monstrous windstorm hit our countryside over the past 48 hours. According to "Environment Canada's Red Flagged Warnings" - we are expecting a snow squall/blizzard sometime later today. Perhaps it will arrive just in time for us to depart for our son's hockey game tonight, who knows?
Autumn really does pass so very quickly...
He is no longer needed in most of the farm fields locally
And the leaves come tumbling down after a severe wind storm passes by. I snapped this photo of our piano teacher's front yard while waiting to pick up children. Her husband is quite unwell, in remission from leukemia and often ailing with presented medical issues. Our older children often ride their bikes over to her home to assist her in her yard and garden duties, so when I noticed all the leaves on the ground and in the garden beds, once at home I browsed the calendar to find a time slot for another service duty over there.
And the leaves will fall...
Autumn brings a variety of things to many people. This is one of my favorite seasons. Like Springtime, I can "smell" it coming, not new buds and a rebirth of scenery of course, rather the smell of drying leaves, and the presence of a misty hue hovering just over the morning horizon. Here are just a few things off the top of my head I'm enjoying this week...
**I love the bursts of color along landscapes near our home and everywhere we go lately. There are "Monet" perfect scenes grabbing our attention and it's not difficult to figure out why tourists pay money to drive along "scenic fall routes" with AAA guide books in hand, or take a scenic fall cruise along the St. Lawrence Seaway to Boston or New York City as we saw along the shores of Old Quebec City.
Fall Color Cruise time in Old Quebec city
**I love how the farmers begin to harvest their crops long into the night, their familiar tractor sounds driving down our road with bright oscillating headlights blinking into our windows just as we lay in bed.
**I have such a grand appreciation for farming now, much more than ever before because I can witness how hard they work to get our food to the market and across shores to other lands. Farming bins are filled and attached to tractors in earnest. Our local feed mill is filled with the summer's gift of harvest right now, animal and bird feed plentiful for anyone hoping to grab it at its freshest peak.
**I love how there is a natural hush to the end of our days at hand, as if in total anticipation of the days becoming shorter again, or perhaps it's the body's subtle response to the season at hand, one offering relaxation and not feeling as though life is a rush to do everything while the day is bright and filled with longer hours to maintain outdoor activities.
Everyone attends power skating lessons
Power skating lesson
Hanging out with nature; our new backyard??
I love how there is suddenly a better selection of teas on the market for sipping on cool days and keeping warm near the fire when darkness falls. Recently I acquired four boxes of "Celestial Seasonings" teas; Sugarplum Spice, Candycane Lane, Nutcracker Suite, and Gingerbread spice.
**I love the return of schedules no matter how I shake the dice. I like to have order in my days, so the return of normalcy to me is everyone busily working at their primary vocation in life, four of the people in our homes are back to school, which is something involving the return of a harmonic household (believe me), rather than having everyone all over the map with me as the sole driver at the helm.
Hello Autumn
