Sunday, November 11, 2007

Autumn Days and Crisp, Smoky Evenings







Hard to believe it's been a month since I've posted anything but it's representative of the little time I've had "left over" from my daily demands of work and family. It has been a great month, I think one of my favorite times of year, second only to Spring and new flower blossoms, new life. Fall is crisp and cool and the crunch of acorns underfoot, the golden colors of autumn's foliage....windows sprung open, migratory birds at the backyard feeders, football and holiday commercials on tv. Wait--it's not even Thanksgiving and Christmas commercials are on tv already?! What's with that? The commercialization of the holidays does in fact hit us earlier and earlier each year, an effort by the mega-stores to make more and more of (our) money!



Last night at dusk Richard, Catherine and I went to the boat ramp near our home and watched the sun go down over the water while Richard threw his cast net. My favorite Egret came for a visit and shyly stood near by waiting for handouts. The first two mullet went to him and then the next two went to a hungry swarm of feral cats that materialized out of the woods near the bank of the creek. Here are a couple pictures I took--not so great because the sun was almost all the way down and it was dark for good photography without a tripod.

I wanted to take the kayak out this weekend but was too lazy to get my aging body off our comfortable pillow-top mattress in time. Richard went out Friday afternoon and atested to the beauty of the dieing afternoon sun as it slipped beyond the marsh's grassy reeds where he paddled and fly-fished alone.




Autumn is:

Brown leather gloves and a wooly scarf

The crunch of acorns under my feet

The scent of clove and cinnamon

A good curl-up-with-an-afghan novel

Wooly socks

Good, red wine

Walks on leaf-strewn paths through the woods

Smoke curling from chimney tops

Pinecones

Brunswick Stew

Warm oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar

The smoky fog-breath swirling from my mouth in the cool of the morning

Football weekends

Fall Festivals/Carnival lights

An October visit to beautiful Minnesota farm country

Home-made apple pie

Pumpkin carving and Trick-Or-Treaters

A November full of birthdays

Scented candles

A crackling fire and roasting marshmellows

Thanksgiving turkey, mashed potoatoes and cranberries!


Mmmm....lots of good things to enjoy, treasure and be thankful for!








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