Sunday 5 October 2008

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness...

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

Remember learning John Keats' poem Ode To Autumn back in your school days? I do.

(The whole poem had to be learned perfectly by heart or Miss Winterbottom the English teacher handed out a detention. I can still remember most of it.)

Last week we had some of those delightful warm end-of-summer days that Keats wrote about.
The Canada geese are gathering at the reservoir. Some of them fly south, but many of them stay here in Ontario for the winter.

Autumn on a sunny day is easy on the eyes. The leaves are starting to change from their summer greens to their vivid reds and golds, and everywhere there are splashes of glorious colour.

Make the most of it while it lasts. Winter will be here all too soon.

No frost yet, but the evenings are getting colder. Time to get the winter duvet on the bed and fire up the furnace.

Happy October to you!

22 comments:

  1. I don't remember having to learn Keats, but High Flight by somebody Gillespie Jr. sometimes pops into my head.
    "Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth...."

    Lovely pics. Autumn is truly here. We are expecting 0 lows overnight, so time to put the garden to bed.

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  2. I wish I had been made to learn more poems; it's handy to be able to pull up an appropriate quote when needed.

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  3. Oh, those Geese are so very dear...! I wish we had some right here in my Garden....! I hope these stay for The Winter, my dear.

    THose are Beautiful pictures...Autumn is incredibly breathtaking isn't it? The Trees, The Leaves, The Flowers....! LOVELY!

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  4. Lovely pics, Shammie. I love that one with the multi-shots.. very cool!

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  5. Autumn brings so much more photo opportunities. Nice!

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  6. Exactly so! After sunny Sunday this morning is stormy and rainy. Leaves are falling down fast and our yellow world is turning naked and brown. And we will start to wait for snow :)
    I have been reading now "La catedral del mar" written by Ildefonso Falcones. Very inpressive novel.( it`s in Finnish )

    Warm greetings to you and guess whom too :)

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  7. I think Miss Winterbottom's brother was my 5th grade teacher!

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  8. Love the picture of the geese at the reservoir. Looks a lot like the salt marsh where I spend some time in the summer, very nostalgic.

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  9. Lovely picts. Autumn has arrived here, too. Time to clean-up the garden :)

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  10. I'm thinking the ones that stay haven't got their passport to fly south:)
    I do enjoy watching them fly over the house on the way to the reservoir, you can actually hear their wings flapping.

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  11. We woke up to our first bit of frost this morning. Some of the colours of leaves are quite spectacular, and a lot have dropped already. As for that Keats poem, although I had to learn a great many poems by heart during my schooldays, that wasn't one of them.

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  12. Beautiful Fall colors and I love the way the sun feels these days.
    I actually had to put a light blanket on last night.
    Mellow fruitfulness...very poetic Keats was.

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  13. Love the shot of the geese what a beautiful place. Fall is a great time of the year. Lloyd and Ranger

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  14. Our trees are only just beginning to turn but its not quite the same in the rain!!!!!!!!!!!

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  15. Love these photos.
    Yes, I recall this poem. As for the geese, I love them, but wish they weren't such dirty creatures.

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  16. So pretty!
    We had a hard frost here last night. I would have liked a couple more weeks of no frost but it wasn't to be this year.

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  17. lovely pictures. I do love autumn colours. What are the little dusky blue/purple berries?

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  18. I'd say the prime colours will be passing soon here in Ontario. I wonder about memorizing poetry. I had to do it too, but my students didn't when it came my turn to teach it.

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  19. How lovely to have the geese close by. I love hearing them flying over, but we don't get so many here as we did at our old home.

    Thanks for popping by. The piggies are lovely, aren't they. Haven't heard any more news but will post when I do.

    Am very impressed with The Space Cadet's work on those borders. Give a man a brick and look what happens!

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  20. Sister Ruth in Michigan has already had frost, Sham, and I marvel, because here in Atlanta we're barely seeing any changing of the leaves yet. But it'll come soon and then the frost. This is my favorite time of the year!

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  21. I got out my duvet when we had a cold snap a couple weeks ago.

    I love winter and snuggling up under the covers.

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  22. what truly lovely photos, ex-shammy! and in my gardening days, i used to share your great enthusiasm for the catalogs that arrived shortly after new year's. i did my best gardening then....while everything was still frozen solid.

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