Autumn Leaf Of The Day #91

 

“He'd grown unused to woods like this. He'd become accustomed to the Northwest, evergreen and shaded dark. Here he was surrounded by soft leaves, not needles; leaves that carried their deaths secretly inside them, that already heard the whispers of Autumn.

 Roots and branches that knew things.”

 
~Michael Montoure,

  Slices

 

Here is the final numbered leaf on my Autumn leaf project for 2023! I am still collecting beautiful leaves as I come across them, because for me, in my fantasies, it's always Autumn. Oh my, monster cakelets, pumpkins, days with rain and sunshine at the same time, the color of the sun, the annual migration along the Pacific Flyway, the smells of pies and roast turkey and Autumn Boiled Ham. The Harvest Moon. The holiday shows and movies, while cuddling on the couch. The Macy's parade. When Harry Met Sally and St Elmo's Fire. My warm cozy sweaters. Sweet Potatoes! So many little things like tiny candy bars and the silly Christmas elves I have on my Christmas tree... it's all Autumn, and I will miss it like an old love, because it is, one of the great loves of my life! 

 

Every single leaf I collect, represents a day, no a moment, that Autumn gave me. The leaves I post are very special to me. I hope you enjoy them. This is probably the last year I will be posting them to Twitter X. It has become a depressingly abusive place to be, and sharing my photography on that site just feels wrong. I think that Facebook will be the new home for my photography. We'll see. Anyway, it's was a really pretty year for leaves, lots of red, as if Autumn was singing a power ballad this year! 

 

I am forever grateful!

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #90

 

“When the autumn meets the tranquillity, 

there you can see the King of the Sceneries!”

 
~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #88

 

“Come, little leaves," said the Wind one day, "Come to the meadows with me and play. Put on your dresses of red and gold; For Summer is past, and the days grow cold.” 

~George Cooper 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #87

 

“The seasonal urge is strong in poets. Milton wrote chiefly in winter. Keats looked for spring to wake him up (as it did in the miraculous months of April and May, 1819). Burns chose autumn. Longfellow liked the month of September. Shelley flourished in the hot months. Some poets, like Wordsworth, have gone outdoors to work. Others, like Auden, keep to the curtained room. Schiller needed the smell of rotten apples about him to make a poem. Tennyson and Walter de la Mare had to smoke. Auden drinks lots of tea, Spender coffee; Hart Crane drank alcohol. Pope, Byron, and William Morris were creative late at night. And so it goes.” 

 

― Helen Bevington,

  When Found, Make a Verse of

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #86

 

FALL

I've never liked orange
not even a hint of yellow
though that doesn't mean I'm derange,
you know.
but it's still a riddle as to why,
you can make me see it like it's aurora borealis in the sky.

 
~Kynna Claire 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #85

 

“Let whoever wants to, relax in the south,
And bask in the garden of paradise.
Here is the essence of north—and it's autumn
I've chosen as this year's friend.” 

~Anna Akhmatova,

  The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #84

 

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” 

~Bill Keane 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #80

 

“December’s immaculate coldness feels warm.

 December feels like blood.”  

 

~Zinaida Gippius 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #78

 

“The seasonal urge is strong in poets. Milton wrote chiefly in winter. Keats looked for spring to wake him up (as it did in the miraculous months of April and May, 1819). Burns chose autumn. Longfellow liked the month of September. Shelley flourished in the hot months. Some poets, like Wordsworth, have gone outdoors to work. Others, like Auden, keep to the curtained room. Schiller needed the smell of rotten apples about him to make a poem. Tennyson and Walter de la Mare had to smoke. Auden drinks lots of tea, Spender coffee; Hart Crane drank alcohol. Pope, Byron, and William Morris were creative late at night. And so it goes.”

 
~Helen Bevington

  When Found, Make a Verse of

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #77

 

“Days decrease, / And autumn grows, autumn in everything.” 

~Robert Browning 

 

Winter is knocking at the front door, It rained yesterday, and brought with it cold temperatures. Autumn in California, the San Joaquin County specifically, takes you from the last of the summer's heat, the kind of heat the Mexican Free-tailed bat like to play in, to winter chill, the kind of chill that brings us the gorgeous Common Merganser. I haven't seen any yet, but I can't imagine they wont be much longer in their arrival. Anyway, for this to be considered the saddest part of the autumn season, the death brought by winter's bite, everything, including the tree in the yard has burst with color and beauty. It's as if the autumn is screaming, FUCK YOU, WINTER, I WILL DIE IF I WANT TO, AND IF I DON'T WANT TO, FUCK YOU! Not all years are like that. This year, Autumn nudged summer out of the way, and it is nudging winter too. If this keeps up, I should be able to find autumn leaves well into spring, and if possible, I will!

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #70

“Methinks I see the sunset light flooding the river valley, the western hills stretching to the horizon, overhung with trees gorgeous and glowing with the tints of autumn -- a mighty flower garden blossoming under the spell of the enchanter, frost.” 

  ~John Greenleaf Whittier,

  Tales and Sketches

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #69

 

Harvest Moon

By

~Neil Young
 

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart

But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #67

 

“All at once, it seemed, the leaves of cottonwood trees around the cabin turned golden and whispered to themselves, then curled into black flutes and floated to the ground in crispy, lacy heaps.”

 
~Kristin Hannah,

   The Great Alone

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #64

 

“Once in a while i am struck
all over again... by just how blue
the sky appears .. on wind-played
autumn mornings, blue enough to bruise a heart.” 

~Sanober Khan 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #62

 

 “It's Harvest Time.
Jewish New Year.
Back to School.
The new theatrical season.
These are September to me.

Apples and honey,
sharpened pencils
and the sounds of warm-ups,
voices and bodies getting going.
Hope and promise
and things re-newed.” 

~Shellen Lubin 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #61

 “Time remorselessly rambles down the corridors and streets of our lives. but it is not until autumn that most of us become aware that our tickets are stamped with a terminal destination.” 

~Joe L. Wheeler 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #60

 

“Autumn is an honest month; it does not delude man like spring does! It shows him the dark face of life, the tragedy, the rot, the separation, the sadness!” 

~Mehmet Murat ildan 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #59

 

“I would regret losing the warm green of summer
were it not for autumn’s promise of gold.” 

 
~Laura Jaworski 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #58

“I love the autumn—that melancholy season that suits memories so well. When the trees have lost their leaves, when the sky at sunset still preserves the russet hue that fills with gold the withered grass, it is sweet to watch the final fading of the fires that until recently burnt within you.” 

~Gustave Flaubert,

  Memoirs of a Madman and November  

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #55

 

“You must remain. I must depart.
Two autumns falling in the heart.” 

~Buson