Dreamful Autumn

Pale amber sunlight falls across

The reddening October trees....

Are we not better and at home

In dreamful Autumn, we who deem

No harvest joy is worth a dream?

A little while and night shall come,

A little while, then, let us dream...

~Ernest Dowson

A few days ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to join her for a drive out to nearby Warsaw, Ontario for the opportunity to snap some autumn photos. Well you know me - I didn't need my arm twisted. I charged up my battery and off we headed to the countryside.

Take heart and dive into the quiet maturity of autumn. ~ Kristian Goldmund Aumann

It wasn't the town itself which drew us so much as the drive there.

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools. ~ Henry Beston

The day had started off sunny but by the time we left, it was mostly cloudy - making the fleeting appearances of sunshine all the more treasured.

I am struck by the simplicity of light in the atmosphere in the autumn, as if the earth absorbed none, and out of this profusion of dazzling light came the autumnal tints. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Barns tend to look beautiful no matter the season - but especially so in autumn.

It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it. ~ Diana Gabaldon

This road kept getting narrower and narrower until we reached a point where we realized that the only way out was to back up.

Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year. ~ Chad Sugg

Even the already-bare trees looked beautiful.

Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization. ~ Daniel Webster

Traffic jam - country style.

Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies. ~ Sharon Kay Penman

A cozy-looking scene.

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons. ~ Jim Bishop

There certainly was a wealth of gold.

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. ~ L.M. Montgomery

We kept pulling over to the side of the road whenever one of these visual treasures dazzled our eyes.

Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees. ~ Faith Baldwin

We first stopped here when the sun was hiding and it was rather anti-climatic. As we were about to get back into the car, the sun teased us by filtering its light through the hazy clouds giving us this colourful treat.

The fallen leaves in the forest seemed to make even the ground glow and burn with light. ~ Malcolm Lowry

This scene seemed to radiate its own heat - almost.

It's a beautiful fall day. Gentle wind teases stubborn autumn leaves. Some defy the gentle wind and sway. A taunting dance. Come with me and look at the magnificence of the last dance. ~ Fidelis O. Mkparu

One tree bearing every autumn colour you could imagine.

There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves. ~ Joe L. Wheeler

A lovely wall of orange.

Horses make a landscape look beautiful. ~ Alice Walker

These beauties were out enjoying the autumn sunshine.

The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and freedom. ~ Sharon Ralls Lemon

The young one was curious about the stranger talking to them and clicking photos.

A horse loves freedom, and the weariest old work horse will roll on the ground or break into a lumbering gallop when he is turned loose into the open. ~ Gerald Raftery

Somebody must have rung the dinner bell.

Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods. And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt. ~ William Allingham

A welcoming entrance way into the field.

Take this drink as a token of my disrepute and spin that hay tonight and tomorrow it will be shining golden bright in whatever heavy delirious weave you wish to make. ~ Initially NO

Hay, we're all done here.

It's been trickier for me to get around to visiting your blogs as often as I used to but I do hope to stop by to catch up shortly. Until then, thanks for joining me through the southern Ontario countryside.

Autumn Magic

Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay. ~ Robert Browning

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~ Stanley Horowitz

All the night's magic seems to whisper and hush ~ Van Morrison

On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels. ~ Charles Dickens

Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods. And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt. ~ William Allingham

A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air. ~ Eric Sloane

They are busy all day, giving shade and support and shelter and food to all. Only when night falls can they find rest for themselves, and then, under quiet dark skies, the spirits that live in them are revealed.
~ Durga Bai

l(a

le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
li
ness
~ e.e. cummings

Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.
~ Emily Bronte

But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees. ~ C.S. Lewis

falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly
~ John Bailey

Every Leaf Speaks Bliss

It's been brought to my attention by a couple of folks (thanks SD and Lu) that if you receive my (or anyone's) blog posts or notifications by email, and you are commenting or replying to that email, your message will get lost in cyberspace as there is a "no reply" non-address set up by Blogger when these emails are generated by them. If you have been responding to those notifications, I thank you kindly but I've never seen your remarks.

You can comment on this and future blog posts, if you wish (and I sure hope you do), by clicking on the link to my blog and commenting there or please drop me a line at thesmittenimage@gmail.com.

Below are a few autumn photos and quotes. I hope you enjoy them.

"It is only her in large portions of Canada that wonderous second wind, the Indian summer, attains its amplitude and heavenly perfection, the temperatures; the sunny haze; the mellow, rich delicate, almost flavoured air: Enough to live -- enough to merely be." ~ Eleanor Myers Jewett

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." ~ Elizabeth Lawrence

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree." ~ Emily Bronte

"Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods. And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt."
~ William Allingham

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~ Albert Camus

"A woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart." ~ Hal Borland

"Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay." ~ Robert Browning

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad." ~ Edwin Way Teale

"Swinging on delicate hinges the autumn leaf almost off the stem."~ Jack Kerouac

"A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long." ~ e. e. cummins