The Leaf-Falling Moon

The leaves are falling now. The temperature is falling, dipping to freezing over night. Last night's rain and the early morning dew are dripping from the eaves of the house. As I write this, the brilliant full moon of October, the leaf-falling moon, has fallen below the western edge of the sky. But there are two sides to most things in nature, the light and shadow of things. And so this morning, mist is rising from the lakes and fields. The sun is slowly rising, spilling golden light over the eastern hills. And in our warm little house, sleepy family members are rising one by one.

photo by Aisling, October 26, 2007

Poetry Thursday - An October Song

night rain is falling
wind is moving through the leaves
an October song

~ haiku by Aisling October, 2007

We woke to the first frost of the season. This will be the day I look for the windshield scraper, bring the green tomatoes in to ripen on the counter, and share my first frost-in-the-garden photos of the year.

photos 1) Maple leaf on the grass;2) Alchemilla Mollis (Lady's Mantle) 3) Weather-worn Pink Cosmos 4) Pink Zinnia glazed in frost 5) Yellow marigold

Community....

Kate at Our Red House awarded me with a CommunityBlogger Award. This award is meant to honor someone "who reaches out and makes my blogger community a better one." I love my visits to Kate's Red House and am so pleased that she enjoys visiting me here also. Thank you, Kate!

I haven't decided if I can narrow my list of blogging friends down to just a couple of award recipients. Everyone on the list, (and some others who haven't made it there yet because I haven't gotten around to adding them), makes my blogging community better and brighter.

If you are reading and I haven't met you yet, please leave a note on my door (otherwise known as a comment.) I'd love to meet you and to extend the borders of my blogging community even further.

Poetry Thursday - This Autumn Day

I was pleased to find a few moments to take photos on this busy autumn day. This poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay expresses the deep joy that one can find in nature. Is this joy more poignant in Autumn, because we know that winter will soon be here? It's very late in the evening, but I have another load or two of laundry before I can go to bed, or some family members will have "nothing to wear" tomorrow! *grin* I'm tired and sleep is calling my name, but waiting for laundry has given me an opportunity to share a poem by a favorite poet. I hope you enjoy it!

God's World

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, -- Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, -- let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call. ~ by Edna St. Vincent Millay

photos by Aisling, October 17, 2007 1) Leaves on the fiesta maple 2) Haiku taking a walk; 3) other leaves on the Fiesta Maple

Sunday Stroll - Late Season Color

photos from the Cutting Garden by Aisling, October 14, 2007 1) Evening Scented Stock 2) Pink Zinnia 3) Orange Zinnia 4) Bright Lights Cosmos 5) Old Fashioned Garden Balsam, grown from seeds shared by a cousin (and friend and gardening mentor!)

A Little Note about Nothing Much...

This morning everything is dripping from night rain, but the sun is shining through the clouds over the eastern hills. We are expecting fair weather for the weekend, though seasonally cool, so my "to do" list grows longer: roll up and bring in the garden hose, clip back some plants that are "done" for the year, cut back dead blooms on the mums, and bring in the rag rug from the front deck. As I wrote this post, the softest rain began to fall, so I ran outside and took a couple of photos. The photo below is of one end of a rainbow across the western sky.

I've included a photos of sunflowers and yellow-orange mums taken this morning. You can see those flowers looking very different, in this post a year ago today.

photos by Aisling, October 12, 2007

A Cold Morning on the Hill...

A cold wind is blowing this morning. The early morning scramble for heavy jackets inspired me to clean out the front coat closet. It looks tidy and smells like lemon-grass and ginger essential oils and I have discovered a few things: Sijo has lost his winter coat, which would still fit him this year as it was purchased a little large last winter. I'll just add that to the shopping list. Haiku doesn't like any of the women's winter coats in our closet. None of them were purchased especially for her, and none of them quite suit her style. This may be the year that I buy her a good quality new one, since at nearly 15 years old, she is not going to get much taller (much to her dismay!)

I also noticed that this closet is one of the spaces in my home that has never been painted, beyond the initial one coat of ivory paint, that has faded and chipped over the years we've lived here. I may have to do a closet "make-over" this fall, as I did with my linen closet earlier this year. Hopefully I have some nice paints on hand in the basement left over from some other projects.

My good intentions are piling up like old magazines around the house. I have projects I want to do, breads to bake, autumn tasks in the garden to tend to. But these days, my mornings are dedicated to appointments or laundry, my afternoons to working, my evenings to after-school activities and homework. These obligations set the pace of my days and I have not yet found the quiet niches of time for reading, writing, or even rolling up my sleeves and tackling a project. I will... I just haven't yet.

I will make the time this weekend to pop some tulip bulbs in the ground with Tanka (he helped me pick them out) and to twist pretzels in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon.

photo by Aisling, October 2007, Cloud Tower over the back hill.

Poetry Thursday - October

A child looking at ruins

grows younger but cold

and wants to wake to a new name

I have been younger in October

than in all the months of spring

walnut and may leaves the color

of shoulders at the end of summer

a month that has been to the mountain

and become light there

the long grass lies pointing uphill

even in death for a reason

that none of us knows

and the wren laughs in the early shade now

come again shining glance in your good time

naked air late morning

my love is for lightness

of touch foot feather

the day is yet one more yellow leaf

and without turning I kiss the light

by an old well on the last of the month

gathering wild rose hips

in the sun

by W.S. Merwin, The Love of October

I think these thoughts about October are beautifully expressed. Someone please remind me to kiss the light by an old well on the last of the month, and to gather wild rose hips in the sun!

photos by Aisling, October 2007 1) Galliardia and Coreopsis in the evening light 2) Wild Rose Hips on the back hill

Sunday Stroll - Wild Harvest

The subdued tones of autumn, the mellow golds and brittle browns, may look like things are dying for the year, but as I took my walk yesterday afternoon what I saw all around was life replenishing itself. Stalks of tall grass were dropping seed into the creek bed and milkweed pods were swelling with their own downy seeds. Ripe grapes and viburnum berries, rose hips and thistle seed offered a feast to wild creatures, while ensuring their own abundant return.

photo by Haiku 1) Praying Mantis photos by Aisling: 2) Wild Grapes 3) Green Milkweed Pod 4) the seeds of a wild creek grass 5) thistle 6) rose hips 7) wild purple asters