Autumn Color

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."

~ John Burroughs

 

My camera is by my side... always! There is at nearly every moment of the day, a camera within my reach. On my desk. In my purse. In the glove compartment of my car. Why? Will simply put... I am obsessed! I love looking at life through the lens, and at this time of year, I am in a world all my own. Every single tree, alive with the last of the pinks, and bright yellows, and muted purples... even the dry browns of autumn, bring a warmth to me that doesn't exist the rest of the year. I am never happier, than during these 3 autumn months. I love the warm days, and crisp nights. The morning fog. The quiet. It all comes together to give me an inner strength that I wish I had the rest of the year.

 

Yesterday, when I saw that my rose garden had burst into color, I couldn't have been happier! My Japanese maple has begun to lose it's dry Cabernet leaves, but the roses, with their amazing purple/mauve color seem to bring out the contrasting beauty just perfectly. The pear tree produced it's fruit over the summer, but it's leaves are turning and it makes me smile thinking about the fruit it will bear next year! As sad as I am that these colors, and scents won't last a whole lot longer, I am not thinking about when it will be gone, I am too happy enjoying the colors. With a little luck, we will have a nice variety of colorful leaves, and roses right from the garden adorning the table for Thanksgiving!

 

 

If you enjoy autumn as much as I do, and are posting your own love of leaves and the time of harvest, please feel free to leave me your link in the comment thread. I will be happy to come by and see your post!

Bliss. :)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 119~ The Light In The Afternoon

"But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The Sun warms my back instead of beating on my head... The harvest has dwindled and I grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on."

~Robert Finch




Ordinarily I wouldn't complain about summer coming to an end, but I enjoyed this past three months of warm weather, because it helped to produce the most beautiful roses I have ever grown, and the yummiest tomatoes and zucchini. It wasn't one of those oppressive summers, when it is so hot outside you can't think straight, but it was a consistent summer and it was good, not just for growing things, but for stretching my creativity as well.

Later today, Alan and I will be cooking up some tomatoes from the garden, in some wonderful all purpose tomato sauce, that will eventually become pasta sauce, pizza sauce, and assorted different bases for dinner dishes. I will post the photos along with the recipes as they are developed. I am still considering what wines I may want to add to the sauce. A nice Cabernet for sure I think. We'll see. :)

 

 For the most part, we had an amazingly bug free garden. The roses have been strong and producing new growth at a better than expected rate, so it softened the blow a good bit when I found some aphids munching down on some of my Pink Promise roses. (YIKES). I caught the infestation early, and cut the rose bush back to eliminate the infected new growth, then did a deep sprinkling of cinnamon at the base of the bush. Next I did some preventive maintenance by cutting the new growth from the rest of the roses in the garden.

 

It's been a couple days, and I haven't seen any new instances of aphids, but I will have to watch things closely for the rest of the season. If all else fails, I have some homemade organic remedy all mixed up and ready to go. It worked wonders in years past, so I am confident that if I need to use it, it will do the trick! In late October, I will prune all of the rose bushes back by a third to promote new growth next spring. Aphids like to overwinter in dry leaves, so while I adore autumn and look forward to the big mess the leaves make, this year I will have to be diligent about the raking and disposal of them. FUN! :) It's a good thing I love autumn leaves so much... lol... it will make dealing with them a lot more fun. At least that's what I am hoping! LOL.

The autumn light is beginning to whisper our way, especially in the late afternoon. When that gorgeous late day sun hits the roses, it's nothing short of magical. The roses in this posting all are showing off that light, with only a tiny amount of editing on my part. This pretty much how everything looks right now, and we are getting little bits of color all around. The leaves are gorgeous this year, and I can't wait to get out with my camera a document it all.

Autumn... HERE I COME!




Me :)