The air is cool as an old coin teaspoon, and a faint tang of blue woodsmoke spices the wind. The color of the great sugar maples is so dazzling it seems I must have dreamed it. The maples give forth light, like closer suns. The oaks glow with a garnet fire, and all the thickets blaze with scarlets and pale gold and cinnamon. It is like the music of a trumpet.
Gladys Taber
Stillmeadow Daybook, 1955
This is really lovely. I wish that we had the vivid leaf color. Alas, no. Thanks for sharing with me on a day when I'm dealing with a nasty fall cold - dripping nose and all. LOL
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kay. And sorry you're sick. Actually these colors are quite muted compared to about a week ago. Up here in the north our 'peak' is usually the end of September - beginning of October. The more south in the state you go, the later peak color is.
ReplyDeleteNan, beautiful. The wonderful colors have not arrived in my area.
ReplyDeleteSoon it will happen. Love the sharing of Gladys Taber. Have been glancing through my Tasha Tudor - book. I could live with either of them.
Your fall is ahead of ours. It is still mostly green here with just a few colors creeping into the trees.
ReplyDeleteLovely. I love Gladys Tabor. She really can get at the heart of New England, can't she?
ReplyDeleteThat is so perfect..it matches your pictures exactly!
ReplyDeleteI love how she writes - I had never heard of her before your blog and now, on the bedstand, is her book, My Own Cape Cod, which is very soothing pre-sleep reading.
ReplyDeleteAutumn is my favourite time of year. I love the colours and the smell of the leaves.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised at how similar your growing season is to ours considering how much further north we are. You grow many of the same plants in your garden and they were only a week or so ahead of ours. We had an early frost this year, but by the look of your pictures, our leaves don't turn much earlier than yours.
The thing I still miss most, after half-a-lifetime of living on the edge of the Mojave desert in California, are the fall colors. Thank you for these pictures...they remind me of North Georgia mountains where my roots remain.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say I'm enjoying the things you're posting...I've read most of Gladys Taber's books, and the idea of an apple dessert from Mary Poppins is making me very happy! The Martin Walker books also sound appealing.
ReplyDeleteGladys Tabor's descriptions of place were always so rich--comfortable prose.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful! I have been to New England many times but never in September or October. Must do it.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful Taber quote - I'm oozing with envy that you captured it so well in your pictures here. One of my very favorite times was "leaf peeping" in Vermont some years ago. It rained the whole time - and we got the best pictures ever!
ReplyDeleteThese 2 pictures are lovely-thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteErnestine and Lisa, that's so amazing to me since ours is disappearing with every day.
ReplyDeleteSarah, she so loved it.
Thanks, Staci.
Susan, that pleases me more than I can say. Soothing is a perfect description.
Carolyn, that's interesting. I wonder if it is more the gardening zone. I know they've fooled around with the numbers lately, but we are pretty solidly zone 3, with a few pockets of 4.
Jill, that's a long way from Georgia to California. The desert certainly has its beauty too, though I wouldn't want the insect/snake life. :<)
Thank you, Audrey.
Morning's Minion, you are so right.
Anonymous, the beauty really is beyond what any photos can capture, even the professional ones in magazines.
Life on the cuff, you're right. Sometimes photos really come out better in rainy/cloudy conditions.
Sherri, thanks.
Thank you Nan -- I wish we'd been able to stay in New England longer. You live in a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteSallie, I don't think you made it to NH; is that right?
ReplyDeleteGorgeous. Our leaves are beginning to turn and it's so lovely right now. I'm eager to get back out on the bike trail and do a little riding. We were in California last weekend and I'm still playing catch-up!
ReplyDeleteTo Kay, I hope you're feeling better!!
Les, you are so lucky to have those trails! I think I would bike if I didn't have to compete with cars. Our color is fast fading.
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