“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
talya
Musical Pairing:
Autumn Leaves, Nat King Cole
October Rainbow
Hello Autumn!
Autumn is the time we begin to wind down the year, rebalancing our bodies and minds as the days begin to shorten and cool. We breathe a sigh of relief at having survived another hot southern summer.
Into storage go those summer decorations, the bowl of seashells collected during annual treks to Destin, the sunflower door wreath. Into the back of the closet go the white linen pants and summer sundresses. Bring on cowboy boots and sweater weather!
Thoughts turn to family and football, chili and pumpkin spice lattes. Fall is a time for thanksgiving.
Surprise lilies bloom where none stood the night before. The air is filled with defoliant and the smell of cotton.
I wait for the Great Pumpkin.
The roadsides and ditch banks around our farm are tangled with tiny wild flowers and colorful foliage perfect for gathering into fall decorations. What better way to honor nature’s blessings than with vegetation growing wild near the fields? These fields which provide for us all spring…every spring, year after year.
ditchbank decor
Our rice field is peaceful now, resting, and nearly bare after harvest. The remaining dry stalks, interesting only to dove and duck, are in sharp contrast to the brilliant colors along the turn row and ditches. Cockleburs hang in clumps on scarlet stems. Peeking through the weeds, purple morning glories creep along the dark soil like ground cover. Silvery Johnson grass waves in the breeze. Growing wild, pink spiky flowers are unfamiliar to me, similar to salvia.
decorating with Autumn’s offerings
You can easily transform your home at no cost with only a pair of scissors. A rusty bucket or tarnished silver bowl provides the ideal container. Any found object will do.
As poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox observed, a weed is but an unloved flower.
The beauty is all around.
decorate with cotton and wildflowers
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Nature’s Symphony
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| dove |
The field rests, preparing for winter. The temperature is thirty degrees cooler than before.
As I walk the perimeter, unsuspecting critters are surprised by my return. They have received no visitors since the combines moved out. Hidden, life waits for me to pass, then plops or jumps or slithers behind me just out of sight.
I surprise a hawk on the ditch bank, and he surprises me. He swoops along the water, choosing a new spot to roost. The beaver dam has grown larger with sticks and brush woven tightly, a bridge to the other side. A brown grasshopper follows me, jumping at my feet, keeping pace and hitching a ride on my shirt for a few yards. Hello little fellow! He doesn’t answer back.
I visit my favorite spot, adding to the hidden treasures in my rusty hubcab – another shotgun shell casing, a feather, a piece of broken green glass, a shiny silver key. A bright pink candy wrapper half buried in the field proves a curious find…. Aren’t farmers and strawberry Laffy Taffy mutually exclusive?
The morning sounds are richly layered like an impressive symphony orchestra, well rehearsed and perfectly timed. Nearest to me, crickets chirp a steady melody, almost a recognizable tune. The occasional plop of a turtle into water adds deep bass sounds. Overhead, dove trill and whistle. Nature’s high notes. Harmony surrounds me in the rustle of turning leaves. East across the fields, traffic hums on the interstate as trucks haul beans to the river, autumn’s final crescendo.
talya
Musical Pairing:
October, U2
