Days become shorter...
The salt-marsh turns golden...
A Blue Jay surveys his cache...
Heavy dew on petals...
Fall berries ripen...
A few late blooming roses.... just so we don't forget...
The harvest is almost complete...
The sun rises later................
The landscape evolves...
But not these Rocks ...
All photographs taken from my garden on Oct.14. between 8:15 and 8:30 am...
Echinacea purpurea; Quaco Bay on the Bay of Fundy, NB; ripened fruit on Mountain Ash; late blooming Wild Aster; ferny Asparagus; slumbering fly on Rosa rugosa; Russian Mammoth sunflower seedhead and 9' stalks; looking past the garden towards the drifting fog at Roger's Head, Quaco; rockwall at front of the house
*** Note: the rocks and boulders that make up the rock walls around our home are from the wharf, removed during a recent renovation and rebuilding.. before that many, many years prior, they were ballast on ships that had made their way across the Atlantic from the British Isles... I love this...
68 comments:
Beautiful! You still have so much shape and color there! So lovely.
We still have some flowers and color in our yard, but our area otherwise is pretty much past peak. Your cone flowers are still going strong too! :)
I love the glint off the ship in the water with the sea meeting the skyline. I would sit there all day long.
Oh Gwen, this is such a feast I actually had to loosen my belt!
The wonders of your surroundings and the waning autumn laid bare on the screen. The scent of roses wafted o'er the sea as I contemplated the empty seed heads and wet, wet berries clinging on.
The blue jay's musings in his solitude and that awesome first painterly picture of the sea.
I am replete at last and drunk with wonder....Thank you.
Your photographs fill me with peace. I had a weird sensation of sitting right there on your porch watching the sunrise.
Your tidal flat does something to me. Space, I guess, a place to expand. Don and I were watching "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman" last night, and he was in Iceland. That seascape is rougher than yours, but the possibility of storms and cozying up inside to some good food just pulled me in. But you have some more days to enjoy wandering outdoors before holing up with soup and a fire.
Denise, being along the seacoast we receive the tempering effects of the ocean... cooler in the summer, slightly warmer in the winter... but everything is slowly going to sleep now... the leaves are falling quickly too..
The coast guard ship comes regularly to check the position of the buoys marking the safe channels for the boats...
So much to see when looking around the countryside.. Thank you!
Arija,
you always bring an emotional reaction to me... your words are music to my ears...
As my climate brings slumber to the landscape, I watch as yours bursts forth.. a wonderful balance...
Robyn,
The sunrise seems so gradual this time of year..
I find myself waiting almost impatiently for it as each minute goes by...
Ruth... before moving here I never realized how the daily changes of nature would have affected me... my world felt much smaller... contained...
... having the opportunity to witness these interacting environments from this hilltop has been an experience I never would have imagined.....
... leads me to think we merely need to be exposed to things to be able to fully appreciate and understand them...
Beautiful pictures. But I'm still mourning summer. And will no doubt continue to do so until April.
Sometimes its just too beautiful to speak (i like when that happens). To be strewn into a silence, looking out at so much...
to think this is all just one small half hour of witnessing the world within view! I am wondering what has changed in time since that half hour (for both the world and the photographer)... everything seems to say, sieze the day...and the day is moving like the sea
and the sun, and the wind and we can barely grasp ...
I love the fog coming in off the water (why is that) and the lush-ness of all this; in my mindscape, none of it is going to sleep (maybe to sweet dreams, alright i will give it that); but for me its allgoing inward, like a hermit into a contempl
ative space; to make itself larger--to blow us away even more next spring with its grandeur.
I can't help thinking of the rocks though, faced to the light, absorbing, listening, almost claiming themselves to us as eternal... what would they say to us if they could crack open and speak? Were they too part of a cave where a fire was kept and human voices began to open, and as listeners are they not full too, of history (ours) and memory
(some of them seem pink... why is that?)
deep peace.
Superb, as usual.
Gwen,
I too found a moment of total stillness whilst my eyes rested on each picture. The greatness of nature needs very few words...Gwen you captured the essence of "Fall" so beautifully in image.
I have to say again your environment is breathtaking, the second image could be a William Turner watercolour...The light is magical.
I am reminded of the quote, "Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of
infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them".
--- John Ruskin
Beautiful and emotive pictures, Gwen!
One could never tire of looking at your surroundings. This one is so very glad you share them.
Such lovely pictures Gwen. The bright red berries on asparagus ferns always surprise me!
Beautiful! Everytime I see a rose in the fall, I exclaim;
"Look, it's Autumn Rose!"
(my daughter's name.)
what beautiful photos! i just love fall-makes me tickle inside. cozy blankets. air out the woolens-YES! i'm an equinox gurl.
Hi Gwen...Such gorgeous pictures..I dont know how you get so much done in a day with your lovely views in all directions to just sit and breathe in.
I bet you can never remember a moment in your life when you were bored. People who are bored and need entertaining really really need to get out into nature..
Beautiful images. As your part of the world cools into Autumn, ours heats up into Summer.
So when can I visit? I have an overnight bag that is in pretty good shape and won't be too embarrasing to bring on a plane, a couple of larger suitcases that I can throw in lots of sweats and for warmer weather some T-shirts and sleep shorts.
I can borrow your art supplies if that's okay.
I'll just leave my laptop at home because I'll sit in your studio or wherever you have your computer.
And if it's okay with John, I'll visit with him while he paints and not yak your ear off all day long (actually I'm not much of a talker)...
and then I'll slip out of the house and walk along the wide open beautiful spaces and ....maybe later I'll bother you for a cup of coffee in one of your mugs.
Really really, I won't be in the way.
And besides Halloween is coming soon and you'll need someone to answer the door to the local children however, I don't see a neighbor anywhere near you in these photos.
But I'm all yours, I'll do whatever chores you want.
and ....can I make some jewelry?
Jazz.. I always mourn summer too.. I could use a couple more months of it...
..........
You are always too generous Guillaume
......
Serena, Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful quote by Ruskin... so true...
Sanna I am so glad to have you and everyone join in with me to feel the nature of the coastline.. Thank you...
kathi, you know well nature of nature... But I do look out upon it probably far too often... It is like a deep, deep breath....
Annette, everytime I look at my asparagus, I think of you... and smile...
Mansuetude, I have to say, I sometimes feel guilty soaking up the beauty.. or is that just because I am a mother and guilt just comes naturally.. but really not that they are in common with each other...
oh, the fog is so, so, so special ... so changing... drifting thick and thin... spreading... rising.. a mystical veil of atmosphere....
I love it.. it has its moods that change the feel of a day, many times, when it is around... It seems to slow down thoughts...it creates a pause.....
The rocks.. about 115 tons... and when John built the walls, he seemed to think that each one had a very particular place and nothing else would do..till he placed them all just where they wanted to be... a puzzle...
But although they didn't evolve they did have a previous life for many years.. I don't know how many, just very many.. they used to be part of the local harbor wharf, laid in back of the timbers that form the edge where the boats dock..
a few years ago they were heavily damaged when flooding occurred during a very high tide in a tremendous storm... afterwards the wharf needed to be rebuilt.. it was aged too.. As the building process is different now than when the wharf was first created... all these rocks and boulders had to be removed... So we were lucky enough to buy them for our rock walls... oh the tides they had seen...lending strength to the wharf for all those many years... now they sit up here in the sun... and the breezes and the winter snow... so textured and unique to themselves... calling out to be touched or sat on ....
some do have a pinkish tint as they are red sandstone .. one had a beautiful fossil..that for a reason known only to John, he turned it to the back so it can't be seen...but he thinks he remembers which one it is..
some had the markings of rust where steel bars held the timbers together below the water line when the tide was in...
so aware of you to feel they had several lives.. wouldn't I like to know where they were before that... another story
Thank you so much for your thoughts...
a beautiful day... fresh...
Hi Jo,
I'm glad you could sense the stillness.. hardly a breath that morning... just the calm of the sun coming up over the horizon...
and I love Turner.. and now that you point it out I can see it too... Thanks!
Thank you Wooly Daisy,
I know what you mean about fall... it has a way of making us want to curl up and get comfortable...
...
herhimnbryn, ah yes.. this is good though.. we get to enjoy the best of both worlds and comfort each other when storms hit......
Anet, I am so happy to hear your daughter's name.. I will always associate the autumn rose with you now...
Lovely... beautiful name...
Sandy you are so full of humor... everyone must be cheered when you are around...
I'm ready when you are.. I have an extra bed, you know... and the art supplies are scattered all over just waiting for you... can't wait to see what you come up with...
we don't get too many Halloween children, (oh we get a few) so you might have to finish off the treats..if you don't mind...
I'm waiting........ only 1/2 an hour to the airport...
Isn't autumn just the best, most beautiful season? These photos are sublime.
Again a wonderful journey to the Bay of Fundy. The sun is so low here that it does not clear the top of the hill until 10:00. A sure sign winter is coming.
I agree about being exposed and learning to understand. We had a similar experience moving to the farm, never having lived in the country quite like this. Now on my drive I watch the seasonal changes daily, and I absolutely love it. Watching farm crops grow and get harvested, watching bird habits, the water table rise and fall. It ain't the Bay of Fundy, but I love it all the same. I still think I could retire up there though. I'm grateful you show it to us.
Pamela, yes fall brings to mind the word "endearing"... the beauty is still there but we can see cracks between and somehow inside...
we can see its insecurities...
no no no-nononooooo...
are the crows guilty?
Chris ... ah.. the signs of the seasons... you must live with elevations of the hillsides as I did back in Springfield, our previous home... we were protected from a lot of wind from the surrounding hills but our sun rose late.. but being very sheltered was good too.
Ruth I know what you mean... it doesn't have to be the Bay of Fundy to make one feel comforted or receive pleasure from... just your home...
the sun rises over all of our heads no matter where we live ... we just have to peer outside to see it...
The pace is slow here so there is lots of time to observe...
Oh No, the crows and ravens are never guilty...
I'll try to let any past guilt that lingers inside of me blow away in the breeze outside my window.. I'll open it up right now and fling it out..
There it goes...
Ahhhh..... I needed that...
Thank you, I feel much better now!!
Well, that was so easy; in the time it took to eat my soup, you're free and feeling better; what did it look like when you threw that out? size shape color...? now i am going to try it... where does one begin?
You're not, nor are mothers, the only ones who ever feel guilty... I would much prefer my mother full of joy than guilt! And yes, i confess i keep a scarlet letter of sorts blazing across my heart-- (just for loving beauty/mystery) i have tried to take it off but its stitched in with some strange eternal signew.
Love your fog description, especially "when it is around... It seems to slow down thoughts...it creates a pause.....", so true; like a fire. And John hiding his fossil, protecting it like a secret found treasure, it made me laugh so... just lucky for us he isn't hiding you!!
The rocks have such a wonderful story--they are so old; i am feeling very mortal lately; very aware of my short time here;
the rocks must love that they were wanted, reused, allowed to rest there; your house should come with its own book...
thanks, you! :)
Gwen, I'm so happy. I'm pretty sure Peter will be in St. John today, making a trip to Beckwith & Co. :)
And then next week they start heading south instead of north.
Peter probably won't mind heading for warmer weather now, as our air has become cooler....
wish I could store up the rays of summer like preserves...
Well I sent him a nice sweater with a little cashmere in it for his birthday last week (via his sister in NYC), so hopefully he'll stay warm.
I know what you mean about storing up the rays of summer. I do also enjoy the different aspects of light in the four seasons (I think you do too), even though they don't all come with warmth. :)
What a wonderful blog and from an area I know so little about, thank you so much and I will be back seeing how your life unfolds in a part of the world so far from mine.
mansuetude..
now don't get me going on a fire.... it is one of those elements that coax us in, to view thoughts we never knew we had...
how many things do that... a vast vista, a flowing river, tides and water of almost every description...and fire...
we spent a lot of time in the firepit during the summer nights... it has the power to give and take away... and water has that too... maybe it is the power they generate...
Penny it is lovely to have you here.. unusual that Adelaide pops up again...
I will love to see how your bursts forth into summer as ours goes to sleep...
It's so fun to see the different perspectives you show us from up north. I enjoy all of the seasons and am looking forward to cold!
Hello, dear Gwen,
thank you very much for your compliments. For years "art experts" at college would tell me to work on a larger scale and I am thrilled that I stuck to the details now!
I am here to see your world now! My goodness, isn't the world such a beautiful place? Give the sea my love, I haven't had my feet in salt water for too long.
Jo
Don, you know .. I have been noticing that most times our environments are much the same... we are not that much difference in latitude either..
probably the differences come when we compare interior to coastal..
I like certain aspects of winter like the cozying up but the prolonged chill I could probably do without... just a bit of chill so I appreciate when it is gone...
Hi J°,
yes I think it is most often in the details that the truth comes out...
I shall call to the sea, and give her your best wishes...
and then wipe her salt spray off my window... she likes to share you know...
fire...
what is it? magic..heat..light..cleanser..talking dancer...warm friend...the heart manifest outward teasing us, seducing us? (we love it even if it ate our houses). I was going to ask if you became afraid of fire, like some people after house fires do, but obviously not... i am glad.
what else acts like that?
great questions are always flying out of you...
maybe also, sometimes, music (for me a violin weeping) the grand canyon did it too, some voices, some scents... but sometimes we are just caught off guard, hit by beauty... rare thing..
its all drizzle chilled and gray but a candle might brighten it all up. Hope the crows come by today and tell you a secret: i have been thinking of kinds of guilt... what do we really mean when we use that word sometimes... its so multi-faced, the word.
Your photos are so lovely. It's nice to see other parts of the planet! Just discovered your blog and enjoying it!
johnnie darling??
i want his birth certificate!
Lisa . Just out for a stroll, around the world without leaving our seats... I like that too...
Yes that Honestly was his name... Johnie Darling.. and darling he was...
.. no I never became afraid of fire.. just regrettably learned a healthy respect for its power... and that yes, things don't just happen to the other guy...
subjects that cause mediation...or a search to somewhere we yearn to be...
Oh how did I forget music.. there is a fellow I know who plays bass violin..he is a potter too.. the manner in which he plays goes so far into your soul, you have to hold your heart in place...
.. guilt... I never thought of the kinds before.. just the general feeling when it hits... I think it is the "i am not worthy" type that usually strikes home, when I witness something magnificent...
or the "I wish I could have given my children more..."
a large flock of robins came by.. a bunch of blue Jays gobbled everything at the birdfeeders... probably hiding the seeds somewhere.. and a poor little Chickadee hit the studio window and fell to the porch roof...
...luckily, I didn't have to feel guilty that I put too many windows in the front of the house,... as he survived... he laid there for a few minutes wiggling his tail and heaving his little chest.. then he stood up and waited a while longer... then he was off... What a relief...
They seem to be doing that more than ever .. I think it is the time of year when the sun is lower in the sky and it is super bright and the ocean is reflected in the windows..
Then Pirate the smallest dog gave a warning that he saw something from the bathroom windowseat where he likes to sleep...
out in the field where the grass and weeds have turned golden.. I looked and at first saw nothing.. Pirate assured me something was out there...
Then some movement... and the distinct face of a Red Fox peered out of the grass... by this time all the dogs were talking about it excitedly and they wanted out... but that wasn't going to happen...
... when the fox heard the barking coming from the house... he just put his huge puffy tail straight out behind him and trotted off to the edge of the field and into the woods...
It was a warm sunny day ..
what does the word conjure for you
I envy you, living among such fantastic scenery, but your photographs show just how much you appreciate it, and the number of comments shows how much they in their turn are appreciated. A really inspiring blog.
ah... Blue Jays are always like that, a bird of greed sometimes; perhaps they are really the souls of stockbrokers manifest.:)
Was watching a little sparrow splash about in a little rain water stilled in a small dish meant for under a clay pot. She had such joy, diving, shaking and splashing the water upwards, making it dance in the air and fall... she did it about 12 times, twirling and twittering and entering in and out of it... was she guilty ever? Where does the "idea" enter into us... that is what i was wondering... its embedded in culture.
The bird, its appearance, just gave me joy... just by being itself. Meanwhile, my husband is making peanut butter cookies--a weird batch with chocolate melted in; he says, "i don't have to feel guilty eating these" because they are low sugar and all whole wheat. :) There is that word again... i tasted the cookies, and i won't feel guilty eating them either, they are TERRIBLE, i tell him...
A jJewish professor once told me while we were walking that I was full of Puritan New England guilt; it didn't make sense to me, so i had to ask him later--he said there was a weird work ethic that Puritans own (i inherit it according to him for living in New England); Its not always true, but maybe some of the old need to work hard and "its never enough" (that strictness sets within us) the colonizing of an area required work... and then he told me he as a Jewish man had different guilt... so its an idea i think about, with women too, or especially.
I happened to glimpse at a headline on a Wall Street Journal the other day, it said there is a large rise in middle aged white women committing suicide... this has nothing to do with your guilt, it is probably a seed of thought planted in my head at the same time you used the word--
but women are often full of un-necessary blocks to joy... if that's simple enough. We take on so much of the care taking of others--
and though we spend ourselves, giving, nurturing, we still feel guilty... torn between doing X or Y, and if a desire towards art is in place too, more guilt; i think its important to think about.
I can't be sure how many guilts i have.. .. all of them probably...
buried... some revealing on a daily basis... some i might make in the future (anyone is capable of anything in some siturations) maybe we inherit the soul guilt of a whole society (some of us feel it moving like an old dark entity inside us; driven to use our lives for conscious change--
Ghandi talked also about Ahisma: a kind of Love that was his mode of action... its almost impossible to achieve... to not speak or think or desire to hurt anything. It can be taken too far, as in I won't want to kill a bug.
Johnie Darling, ah, to miss him at 2 years old, maybe he is really an aspect of you... the thing we love is always a part of us already--waiting to manifest.
who taught me that? ... you
a truly magical spot....unpeopled landscapes are such a luxury (especially after being in India!)
Dave , you are kind... The landscape definitely has a calming effect on a being... I'm glad I can share it ... at least a bit... Thank you...
..............
Mansuetude, Such a wonderful response.. we all should think about these things..
A rise in middle age white women committing suicide!!!.. I had never thought of that... Equality of the sexes... hummmm .. such a sad shame for them all to reach for sameness... but it is what is taught and if anyone doesn't reach for it they are not held in such high esteem.. I hope during this period in the age of the world that we relearn it is ok just to be who we are and go that route...
But on a lighter note... I also use the dish meant for under a pot, for a bird bath.. This year it is closer to the window where I work, tucked under a rose bush... They seem to feel protected there and dart in and out when the dogs go by.
Seeing little birds do what we do makes me realize we have similar basic needs... humans just think they are more special.. if we were all birds the world would certainly not be in the state it is... and just think, no waiting at airports.. no gas needed... no money... no cars... no waste... no parking lots...no poisons..
... just picking a living... I guess there would be a pecking order though.. can't seem to get away from that...
Thank you so much for your inspiring thoughts...
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tumbleweed, it must be very obvious immediately after returning and linger for quite a time afterwards... seeing the world as you do must make you very aware.
Maamm... I think you have a berry-berry nice blog. :)
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those littlest birds, flinging their tiny hearts skyward, their songs, one of my essentials!
love your description...
Beautiful light, beautiful images.
oh Thank you Lucy... Nature seems to offer up her loveliness... just because she's there... she can't help it!! It's her nature.......
.............
Thank you Mansuetude... whose ancient ones watched for the waves...
what a beautiful area you live in and what brilliant pictures. Thank you
Thank you, Melanie.. those sewing room photos you liked to were to die for... Oh... so lovely.. Thanks I think I may get some ideas from them....
gorgeous photos, but my favourite has to be the blue jay, wonderful shot
i've been glancing here, gleaning; thinking of the bounty...of sharing.
What do you mean by this? It is so beautiful, and never said.
"Pamela, yes fall brings to mind the word "endearing"... the beauty is still there but we can see cracks between and somehow inside...
we can see its insecurities..."
--
i think the ancients are still watching; watching us, too. all of us.
Thanks Crafty, the Blue Jays are abundant but it was hard to get many good shots of them.. the didn't want me to steal their spirits...
Mansuetude... I think I meant ... that the beauty of the landscape is before our eyes .. to see.. and there is not much sound from it as in a rocky cliff.. or floating clouds... quiet .. and if we closed our eyes somethings we would never experience.. some things, we would hear and smell and touch but not all...
by the other I meant, in my strange way.. that we can see natures bones.. its skeleton... the parts that were kept discreet all the previous season... its leaves are falling.. its fruit is dropping to the ground... the real self is showing.. nothing to hide behind...it is exposed... and some energies have gone back into the ground altogether...
so to me... it is endearing... it gave us its all and has bowed down before us...
{ }
so beautiful!
--
almost didn't ask this; it seemed like a little unseen something glinting... maybe i should follow your words around and ask you to expound on this or that... until you sing like this...
:)
if I am not clear sometimes, it is probably because what I try to describe may only make sense to me...
Thinking is words is not my first language....
.. I am grateful you are interested... Thank you....
..BAAAAHUUUMMBBUUGG!!!
(retract it... itsallbeautiful...
pictures make words..
Thank you for your encouragement... I value it...
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