EDM #34 - fall leaf

I haven't done any of the challenges in quite a while so glad I can finally share a quick sketch & watercolor - a fall leaf that my daughter proudly presented to me about 3 weeks ago. I decided to press it so I could preserve its' wonderful glowing colors.

Enjoying the beauty of early Autumn is always bittersweet as too soon November winds start to blow and inevitably take with them all the wonderful saturation of colors and textures, leaving behind a dull, bare landscape....at least until the snow flies :)

The stripped and shapely
Maple grieves
The ghosts of her
Departed leaves.
The ground is hard,
As hard as stone.
The year is old,
The birds are flown.
And yet the world,
In its distress,
Displays a certain
Loveliness...

-- John Updike, A Child's Calendar

Fall-ing in love with Autumn

Just wanted to share some of the glorious color we're seeing outside our windows these days. I have always loved this time of year - crisp smokey air, wildly colorful & crunchy leaves dancing carefree in the wind and of course nature's bounty which finds its' way to our supper table where we give thanks for all that is good in our lives.

I've had much time to reflect on things of late while in transition mode for my new space. Having to sort through and organize things that I put off for far too long has also helped me put many things in perspective. I'll follow up with a recap on completion of the room next Muse Monday and of course will let you in on my storage and set-up ideas as well as helpful tips/links that I found along the way. Until then...

October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter.
-- Nova Bair



Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
-- Elizabeth Lawrence



A child looking at ruins grows younger
but cold
and wants to wake to a new name
I have been younger in October
than in all the months of spring
walnut and May leaves the color
of shoulders at the end of summer
a month that has been to the mountain
and become light there
the long grass lies pointing uphill
even in death for a reason
that none of us knows
and the wren laughs in the early shade now
come again shining glance in your good time
naked air late morning
my love is for lightness
of touch foot feather
the day is yet one more yellow leaf
and without turning I kiss the light
by an old well on the last of the month
gathering wild rose hips
in the sun

-- W. S. Merwin, The Love of October