Tonight From My Front Porch

Fallin'

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness
and color and a time of maturity; but it is also
breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can
stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the
span of his world and the meaning of the rolling
hills that reach to the far horizon?" -Hal Borland

Of all the seasons of the year, fall is my very favorite. The bright yellows and reds of summer fade into the muted shades of gold and garnet, the fertile green fields change to a golden splendor, and life itself seems to calm down and slow down to prepare us for the cold, dark winter to come.

As I went walkabout the past two mornings, I could see the changes taking place before my eyes and tried to capture their essence...


"The leaves fall, the wind blows,and

the farm countryslowly changes from

the summer cottons into its winter

wools" Henry Beston, Northern Farm

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

Albert Camus

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face."

John Donne

Fungus Among Us

No bugs, no weeds, just a collection of fungi, all found on my 25 acres...

Walkabout

The first early morning in a very long time cool enough to walk; 72°! Left my Tennessee farmhouse just before 7:00, camera in hand, while the mist was still lying over the valley. The corn fields have already been turned to silage and the soy beans are ready for harvest. Our extremely hot summer has taken its toll and given the entire area a tired, sleepy appearance.

About a half mile from the house, I saw my first neighbors, tranquilly (word?) dining on their breakfast of green grass. These particular cows are Black Angus and revered for their tender cuts of beef. I prefer them peacefully grazing in the field...

Proceeding farther down the country road, almost at the one mile point, I came upon more friends. These are some of a large herd of horses owned by a long-time Hickory Valley farmer whose wife works in New York City. Now that's what I call commuting!

Although my spring strolls always provide me with many wonderful wildflower shots, I was hard pressed to find any on this end-of-summer morning. This is the best I could do:

If all goes as planned, I will be doing a lot more walking and will have more stories and photos to share. :)

Snow Wonder

Here in middle Tennessee, we don't get a lot of snow, but when we do, it's well worth the wait. It snowed much of yesterday and is flurrying this morning. This is the view I see when I stand on my front porch. I live in an old farmhouse on a wooded mountainside with a beautiful valley spread out in front of me.
As a rule, the snow we get in a morning is usually gone by afternoon, but since the temperature today is hovering around 17°, that will likely not be the case.

I wouldn't want to live where there was NO snow, but perhaps this is enough. :)