Walking Through Autumn: Week 10

As Autumn winds down
the colors are no longer as bright
reds, gold, yellows and oranges
have been replaced by

mahogany, rust, leather and copper

But

just as Autumn starts to fade in glory

the ancient Ginkgo trees have

exploded with their

bright yellow joy

bringing a new day

...and this, too, will fade

but the circle of the year will

roll on and on

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've reached that time of Autumn

when it's less about the brightness of the

color of the fallen leaves

and more about the depth of the color

Some piles of bronzed and leathered leaves

suggest the possibility of stepping

right through them into another World

Deep, welcoming, mystery
let us enter therein

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through August: Week 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I began watching Autumn last month
the predominant sweet Autumn smell I smelled was walnut

Walnuts falling from the trees and releasing their
succulent scent everywhere

Now, at the peak of the Fall Colors,
I’m smelling a little bit of everything

The sassafras and all the oaks, the maple and the walnut
sweet gum, tulip poplar, sycamore, chestnut, elm...
They’re all there, baptizing the woods and
all who enter therein

 

Let us stir those holy waters

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 7

What we think of as “Autumn” - at least in our part of the world
are the weeks when the oaks and maples begin to turn

That time has arrived

The tulip poplars, sycamore and hickories
have been browning and going yellow for weeks now
each with their own charm
but this week
the oaks and maples are making
their golden and red presence be known

May we recognize that glory while it’s here

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 6

It’s been a bumper year for acorns
rolling across the forest floor in all shapes and sizes

They say that each oak tree produces ten thousand acorns
and of those thousands of acorns
most are eaten by animals and only one or two
become a mature mighty oak
and yet

not one of them goes to waste

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
It was a week of yellow
gold and bright amber

The walnut leaves fell in clumps
alongside the basswood, northern spicebush, tulip poplar and pawpaw
a golden yellow that spoke of the sun and the seasons
and bright days yet to be

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 4

The seasons tend to move in a predictable manner
The Summer flowers fade and Autumn flowers begin
the green fades and the brown and gold and red and yellow begin

But sometimes
we find a Queen Anne’s Lace
     even though they should have quit blooming in August

Flowering in October

I call them Queen Anne’s Grace

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 3

The White Snakeroot’s Latin name means
     Ageless

presumably because it keeps blooming deep into Autumn
hanging on while the walnut leaves and walnuts fall all around
and the horse chestnut pods burst open

exposing their deep rich red-gold nuts

all in preparation for generations still undreamt of

Snakeroot, yellow walnut leaves
a pinecone and
horse chestnut fruit

The horse chestnut fruit

mahogany polish

an antique in one season

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 2

The tall ironweed is one of the last wildflowers of summer
with brilliant, impossibly deep purple blooms
and leaves falling from the sycamore and beech
often find themselves entangled in her embrace
while the Smooth Sumac begins its fade to Red
And Autumn begins with hints of glory-yet-to-be

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...

Walking Through Autumn: Week 1

 

Good News

We are called to live

like leaves falling to the ground

soon joining as one

not in defeat or death

but in delightful harmony

a beloved community

making the world rich

this Fall is not our ending

it is Salvation

 

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This Autumn, I took time to take regular photos and notes to map the passing days of the Fall season...