And, now, for that marvelous month...November!

Even though the snow in the previous post melted within a matter of days (thank goodness!), it has taken me much longer to recover from that startling shock to the visual landscape out my windows, and to my system.

I am not a fan of snow. I needed the autumn to be autumnal, not winter-like. Once the snows receded, the green grass and orange and yellow leaves on the trees re-emerged to make the scenery much more typical for early November. And now, it's nearly Thanksgiving.

While all the brilliant colors of fall have given way to the stark, leafless landscape of winter, I'm continuing to celebrate the season with a few displays of color inside the house. And I'm starting to think about the festivities of fall, the cornucopias and the sumptuous dining of Thanksgiving.

I'll be joining friends for Thanksgiving this year, having hosted more than my share of celebrations, and having no family living nearby any longer. I don't mind, in fact, these friends of many years are, in many ways, as close as family to me and that's a great comfort.

I celebrated a birthday this month. Not a monumental one, mind you, but a birthday nonetheless. And just a day before, I learned that one of my friends of many decades with whom I unfortunately hadn't been in close touch in some years, had passed away. Actually, she died quite some time ago.

It was sad news to learn rather unexpectedly, and I discovered it when I read that her mother had died more recently. My friend's passing saddened me, but it wasn't surprising news, since I'd known she'd had a long history of medical issues. Still, I'd thought she'd gotten it all under control and had gone on from the illness that had plagued her 20s - when we first met - to reach a ripe adulthood. It just wasn't meant to be a very long life, apparently, but it was a life very well lived for another 35 years, and she lived it to the fullest, as I knew she would.

She left a beloved husband of many years, grown children - probably her greatest joy and certainly her proudest accomplishment - and she left many good friends. For me, while our contact was sporadic, our friendship was constant...not one that required frequent contact, for when we were in touch, it was as if no time had passed. She had a full and busy life, and mine took me in another direction personally, professionally and geographically, but that shared experience of our young adulthood was our common ground. I'll always treasure that time we shared many decades ago and I'll miss her. I wish I had known she wasn't doing well so I could have told her how important she was to me in my young life and how much I wish we could have spent more time in touch over the decades. But, alas, it was not to be...

So as I look ahead to Thanksgiving, I think about those who filled my holiday table over the years, parents and elder family members now gone; a few dear friends now gone, too. The memories of those good times provide the frame of reference for my life. Those who will surround holiday tables now become more important to me than ever. They are the new "family," and are part of my new reality.

As you enjoy your Thanksgiving, look around at those near you. Celebrate them and the good fortune to experience a special holiday that's all about giving thanks. I know I will.

Winter in October?

Well, here we are, barely one month into autum and we were slammed with a freak snowstorm yesterday (October 28), dropping about 2 inches on the ground...and it stuck! Oh, yes, it stuck, indeed. It's a veritable winter wonderland with autumn leaves still on the trees...crazy!


If this is what we get in the middle of autumn, I wonder what winter will bring?

And here we are again...in the midst of yet another new season. Fortunately, I adore autumn. It's probably my favorite season of all, and here in the Northeast, it just doesn't get any better. The air is cooler - crisp, even - and, best of all, the scenery is wonderfully colorful. (Contrary to popular opinion, New England - while certainly lovely - does not have the corner on the market for brilliant fall foliage. We here in upstate New York have some of the most spectacular displays of leaves you'll find anywhere in the country...it's magnificent!) Beyond the foliage, our fine, local New York State apples are available in abundance, along with pumpkins and all manner of interesting-looking squashes and gourds. It's just the best time of year here.

It seems that the leaves, like me, are taking their sweet time in changing into their fall wardrobe this year, too. It has been fairly warm in September, and no real hard frost to start the process in earnest, so I think we'll have a longer and more colorful season than last year, when autumn seemed to arrive early and leave fairly quickly. Tonight we'll be entertaining the possibility of some frost, so perhaps that will kick-start the process. We'll see.

Unfortunately, I don't have any readily available shots of autumn color yet, but I will try to take some to post. What I have seen, at dusk, on several occasions, were the local deer friends, who have figured out that the crab apple tree at the edge of the lawn is starting to drop its fruit on the ground...perfect for an evening snack! (Of course, I haven't captured any images of the deer, either, but I saw a doe and older fawn early this morning at the edge of the adjacent field, so they're clearly lingering in the woods adjacent to the lawn.)

Here's one shot I just took (a few days after I uploaded this post) as the sun was setting. (This is the view from my kitchen window, facing east.)


Wish I could say the rest of the landscape is as brilliant as this, but it's just not that vibrant in many areas...too much rain this summer, no early frost followed by more warmth to bring up the colors, so the colors are a little on the mundane side, I'm afraid.

When I pulled into the driveway a few days ago after being out for the day, I encountered a veritable gaggle of wild turkeys strutting through the yard. I hadn't seen them in many months, but am very glad they're about, and expect to see them again as the season evolves.

Hoping your autumn is as lovely as mine in the Northeast!

Autumn's Arrival

Welcome to autumn in the Northeast.  While the actual autumnal equinox arrived on schedule, the changing colors are about a week to 10 days earlier than is typical for this area.  Usually peak color arrives in/around the first week of October, but leaves have been changing here for the better part of the past three weeks, it has been so dry with a few chilly nights, so here we are.  Suddenly, it has been unseasonably warm and balmy, so I'm enjoying the last few days of Indian summer...the temps will revert to more seasonable cool and crisp, but I don't mind.  I love the warm and I love the cool...it's the frigid cold I'm not so crazy about!This is the view from my window and I can see it now as I type, although the image above is one of afternoon sun...I'm looking south and west is to the right.

I'm so very tardy in updating here on the blog, I'm afraid, and I apologize.  It has been a very busy month-plus with things moving along rapidly both on the home front and in the country.  I know I've promised photos of the updates to the family home (about to be sold - fingers crossed!), but I literally haven't had a moment to shoot and post them.  Perhaps later this week, but in the meantime, "please enjoy the music while you're waiting..."

A Chill in the Air

Autumn has surely arrived - the colors on the trees are brilliant - and the weather has been unseasonably cold.  It's gorgeous, but I've paid the price for the weather and the season, I fear.  I came down with a typical cold myself, so I've been out of commission, I'm afraid, or I'd have done an autumn tablescape for Tablescape Thursday, and tried to write a bit about some other things.  Instead, it's mostly been five days of sneezing, sniffling, aches, coughing, and all that nasty stuff.  I promise I'll get back to posting more often as soon as I catch up on life in and around the house, but in the meantime, just enjoy the music I added to the blog a week or two ago.  It's some of my favorite music, musicians, and composers.  In fact, I think I'll pour myself a little glass of sherry and have a sip while I enjoy the sounds, too. 

Cheers!

Tally Ho! Tablescape

Taking a cue from yesterday's post about my trip to Kansas and chance encounter with a majestic grey horse in the heart of the hunt countryside, I pulled a few things together to mark the start of autumn with an equestrian themed tablescape for Tablescape Thursday (see Susan's Between Naps on the Porch - linked here and also found in my list of links - for more of the Tablescape Thursday tradition she started, along with links to lots more that other bloggers have submitted this week).

I've pulled together a red and black buffalo plaid placemat, which always makes me think "hunting," over a red/black woven mat (sources unknown) and a Royal Worcester bone china English teacup and saucer with horses and hounds and inscribed on the inside of the cup with "To A Very Important Person." I found it several years ago at a horse event trade fair from a Vermont antique dealer, I think.  It's always fun to celebrate and honor a special dinner guest by serving them with this unique teacup.

 

To the left of the cup is a lovely crimson cotton napkin with a contrasting beige cotton binding from Martha Stewart Everyday for K-Mart that I picked up at a tag sale (!).  Holding the napkin is the piece I initially thought of when envisioning this tablescape vignette.  (I know it's not quite a full-blown tablescape, but I'm gradually working my way up to that, while trying to do something applicable while squeezing in myriad other demands on my time.)  It's a bone china foxhunter napkin holder, one of a set of four greys and four bays (brown) horses, each with a red-coated rider, by RPA (Phillipines).  I know I mail-ordered them some years ago, but I can't recall who the retailer was - probably one of the equestrian gift shops in the mid-South.  These rings are such fun and always inspire comments at dinner parties when I set the table with them.

Beyond the napkin holder is a crystal decanter that I inherited from an aunt who also was an avid horsewoman.  The decanter label, a wonderful little Coalport bone china piece made in England and purchased from Thomas Goode & Company in London, indicates the vessel is filled with sherry, so I think of this setting as an afternoon tea - a bit of tea to warm weary bones and a sip of sherry to warm the soul and ease the transition to evening as the sun sets on a long day of riding to hounds in pursuit of "reynard" (the wily fox).  To the right of the teacup is a beautiful etched sherry glass, one of my grandmother's glasses.  She was the original horsewoman in the family, having ridden in Ireland as a child - the tradition continues!

The small, wrought iron candle holders were a housewarming gift many years ago and the fanciful hunting print with a charming little verse shown in the right corner used to hang in my bathroom (!) when I lived in the country.  (It already had some water damage when I bought it, so I had it framed and matted to mask the damage and withstand the intrusion of moisture.)  Fortunately, it didn't suffer from the exposure and it's now out of the bath and awaiting a decision on where to re-hang it.

 

The verse reads:

See the hounds begin to feather:

There's a touch by all that's good!

Hark! they're getting fast together;

Now they thunder down the wood.

Leap oe'r the brook; don't stay to look!

Ride at the gate; you'll be too late.

Cheers!  And tally ho!

Mums are the Word

Here's an early autumn view of a country backroad in the area where I lived for 15 years.  I still spend time there - it feels more like "home" to me than anywhere I've lived and most of my friends are there, or near there.  It's a very special, beautiful part of earth.

I remember years ago that one would see "back-to-school" and fall fashions in the stores by August.  It made me crazy.  I think it was mostly because it was 80-90 degrees outside, yet we were being asked to contemplate wools and tweeds and plaids.  I love them, but not in the height of summer!

I don't know whether it was the passing of a few decades or simply the fact that I don't spend anywhere near as much time in retail clothing stores these days as I did when I was a teenager (hello, Internet and online shopping!), but the merchandising schedule of mainstream retailers doesn't bother me anywhere near as much now.  Instead, I notice the harbingers of autumn in the grocery stores, where I do find myself frequently and where the seasonal displays of hardy chrysanthemums are the first retail signal to start preparing for chillier nights and cooler days.

I bought some gorgeous garnet mums a few weeks ago  in anticipation of the new season, and I picked up some bittersweet orange mums earlier today.  Tomorrow, I'll replace the fading leggy pink and purple petunias shown in my title photo above, and I'll consolidate from three separate planters and put what remains of the best of the remaining petunias together in a single pot as the last hurrah of summer.  I'll put the mums in their place of prominence and group them for as bold a color display as I can manage.  I'll take a photo when I've got them in place, so you can see how gorgeous their rich and rusty colors are.

I'm never happy to see summer go, but I have to admit this particular transitional time between the seasons is one of my most favorite times of the year.  It's still balmy, but the heat and humidity are gone and the hints of crisp fall weather are in the air. 

I love autumn best and here in the Northeast, it doesn't get any more beautiful.  I think I'm ready.  Oh, and did I mention that mums are the flower for my birthday month?