Poetry Thursday - Snowfall

cystal petals fall

a gift from heaven to earth

flowers made of ice

a haiku, by Aisling, December 3, 2009

all photos by Aisling, December 3, 2009

Sunday Stroll - Autumn becomes Fall

Most people use the terms Autumn and Fall synonymously. For me, they are two different seasons. Autumn days intertwine with the days of late summer, with warm days and crisp nights and generous color in the trees. Fall begins unexpectedly one night as a cold wind rips the leaves from many trees at once, and in the morning the streets and sidewalks are paved with slippery, gold and brown leaf litter. This year, that windy night was Friday, leaving the trees in skeleton form just in time for Halloween.

As the boys trick or treated last night in the village, I enjoyed the atmosphere of the village in Fall. This proprietor will have to change their gorgeous display. October may be "Art Month" as the window proclaims, but November is here, as the crunch of leaves beneath our feet reminds us.

The flowers in the pots along the street seem to glow with amazing intensity above a blanket of brown leaves.

The bridge to the island library looks abandoned now that the summer residents have moved on. The river is host to fishermen in flannel rather than teenagers in skimpy swimwear. The bay is quiet and waiting.

I saw this fellow sitting in a garden as we walked the streets at twilight. He seems pensive, but resigned, which is how I feel about November.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you joyful thoughts and happy trails.

Please scroll down to see who else has been strolling!

all photos by Aisling, October 31, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Reflections of Autumn

all photos by my daughter Haiku, October 27, 2009 in the late afternoon

Through the rain

It has been raining for several days, with rain in the forecast for the next few days as well. I'm just ignoring the "wintry mix" aspect of the forecast until I actually encounter it. The frequency of rain in October is a familiar thing, but all of this rain is probably why I think of October as the month of rainbows. As if there isn't enough color in the trees and burnished fields, a sudden golden light will spill through the clouds, casting rays of colored light on the sky. It is so beautiful that I wonder how everyone else can just go about their business-as-usual. I look up in wonder, catch my breath and soak the color into my being. I hope I can absorb enough color in this bountiful month to hold me through gray November and the bleak white months that follow.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you color and beauty.

Sunday Stroll - Tree Walking

The fiesta maple, with its two trunks and lush display of leaves, beckoned me out to the garden this afternoon. Earlier, when the wind was softer and the air a bit warmer, I planted tulip and daffodil bulbs in the butterfly garden. With the wind rising and the temperature dropping, I walked briskly from tree to tree and tried to catch images of the autumn leaves in mid-flutter. The white pine at the north end of the butterfly garden is full of firm green needles and immature pine cones.

The Chinese Elm, the anchor of the butterfly garden, is one of the last trees to change color. It is still providing a green canopy above the fading perennials that grow along the garden trail.

The little Japanese Maple (cultivar Waterfall), growing under the elm's green umbrella, is crimson and gold in mid-October.

I left the butterfly garden and headed down into the wild uncultivated edges of the property. Several years ago we found another little self-planted white pine. It is taller than I am now, and this year some of its needles are turning gold and dropping onto the ground beneath the tree.

At the edge of the marsh in the southeast corner of the propoerty, our oldest daughter's Weeping Willow towers above the shrubs and small trees.

At the end of the garden, this paper birch grows tall and slim and leaning (like so many of our trees) decidely to the east. This tree was planted by our younger daughter and her father 11 or 12 years ago.

Bosc pears are still clingly tightly to the branches of the southern tree in our miniature orchard, and the leaves in the next tree, a Luscious Pear, are a delicious glowing orange-red.

Near the front porch, the leaves on the thundercloud plum are the same deep rich purple they have been since Spring. In the background, autumn colors are evident on the hill just to the east of our property line.

Before hurrying back into the kitchen to start mulled cider and nibble roasted acron squash seeds, I turned to the western edge of our scenic perspective. There is not a great deal of autumn color in that direction, but the blue clouds and the quality of the light give evidence of this mellow season. Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you beauty and contentment.

all photos by Aisling, October 18, 2009

Snowflakes in the Rain...

color in the trees
gray clouds roll across the sky
snowflakes in the rain

~ a haiku, by Aisling, 10/10/20

It is a cold rainy day on my northern hilltop. There are snowflakes in the rain. While stocking up on canned goods for my pantry at a local market, I tucked two boxes of spring-flowering bulbs into my cart. Where my tall cosmos are currently bowing down to the wind and rain, still in brilliant colorful bloom, I will have wild pink tulips and “butterfly” daffodils in the spring.

I also tucked in the ingredients for mulled cider, an autumn essential in our home. The only season missing in my cart was summer… Autumn was there in the cider, winter in the canned goods for cooking in a season without fresh garden bounty, and spring in the humble brown bulbs. Let’s call my produce a little reminder of summer…. salad greens and baby spinach, damson plums, a lemon and a two sweet oranges.

As I write this, I am sitting in the coffee house where my oldest daughter is employed. I’m sipping a delicious dark chocolate, soy café au lait, and watching the wind toss the corn stalks tied to the lamp posts on Main Street in the village. I have three exams to study for, and have materials with me to do so, but my mind keeps turning to other things. It is autumn after all and turning is the story of the season… Leaves turn to amber, gold, and crimson… Families turn up the thermostat, or throw a log on the fire… We turn our lives inward, to home and hearth and tradition, as the rain turns to snow.

photos by my daughter Haiku, 10/10/2009

October Lake

It is July... we all know that. Except for the lake and sky. The lake thinks this is October. Abrupt white rimmed waves are churning beneath the clouds. Reflecting that moody sky, the water is cold steel gray. The sky reaches down, with fingers of cool damp air, and catches pedestrians in an uncomfortable grip. Wind tosses long hair away from disappointed faces. Summer at the lake is supposed to be white sails on blue water, brightly clad people on smooth sand, sunlight caressing warm skin.

Resigning myself to this brief spell of Autumn in Summer's midst, I have nestled under some blankets with a text book and a warm mug of coffee. Oh... and my laptop! Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you comfort and contentment!

photo by Aisling, from autumn

Poetry Thursday - Haiku for July

dusty bare feet walk

clovers catch between my toes

sun bathes me in light

~ haiku for july, by aisling, july 14, 2009

photos by my daughter, Haiku, summer 2009

Sunday Stroll - Through the Seasons

My camera is not working at this moment (I hope it is an easy and inexpensive repair!) so I am strolling back through the seasons using older photos. I began with summer above, and rotated through autumn, winter, spring and back to summer again. In each of these photos, if you look closely enough, you will see a tiny bit of my path through the garden. So come along, if you will, and follow my garden trail through the seasons.

Autumn:

Winter

Spring

Summer

It was a lovely day, with blue skies and a light breeze, so I took a walk through the garden without my camera in the beautiful afternoon hours. Where-ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you joy as you walk slowly through the seasons.

all photos by Aisling 2007 - 2009
1) blue butterfly delphinium 2) cosmos 3) the bare chinese elm 4) jetfire narcisscus 5) orange daylily

Early Evening

I think the January Thaw finally found us, here in the second week of February. It isn't Sunday, but I thought I would share a few photos that I took as I wandered around my fields and gardens. The creek, which I named "The Sometimes Brook" in honor of its habit of being sometimes there, and sometimes not, is flowing rapidly today... under and over ice, in and around little dams made of snow.

I think these tiny shoots (Yes! I have things sprouting here!) are Red Impression Tulips. The front yard is flowing nearly as well as the creek!

I wasn't the only one out in the early evening hours, enjoying the colorful skies and the crisp-fresh air.

The south end of the butterfly garden is still snow-covered, but in the north end, sprouts are pushing through the earth. The first photo is a little wild iris that is often the first thing to bloom in my garden in the spring, proceeding the crocus blooms whose shoots make their appearance in the second photo.

What else is going on beneath the cold soil and a thick layer of spent leaves? Much more than meets the eye, I'm sure! By the way... did you know that lemon thyme smells even fresher and sweeter in February than it does in June?

The lingering snow clearly states that winter is still here, but the air hints at spring, and and the fields are filled with reminders of other seasons.

Though we lost many inches of snow today, snow is in the forecast for later in the week. Before that happens, I'm going to enjoy the remainder of this beautiful, balmy night. Well, not balmy really, but everything is relative! Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I hope you find something beautiful to lift your spirits.

all photos by Aisling, February 10, 2009