October 18th, 2006
suddenly, it’s autumn
We’re back home now. After a long and somewhat eventful flight, we arrived here at the farm just a little before 3 a.m. yesterday. I’ll have more to say about the travel part sometime soon. But for now, I’m thinking about autumn.
We spent our last couple of days in California and Oregon wandering along small rivers in the Siskiyous. I spent another autumn there a few years back. It was warmer and greener. That time, I swam for half an hour in a cold mountain stream. A couple of people came up to ask how I could stand being in the water in late October. The discovery that I was a Canuck seemed to satisfy their curiosity. This time, I swam, but just for a minute or two. It seemed like the right thing to do — to swim in the same green pool — but this time, surrounded by floating leaves. A lone kayaker paddled upstream. There were no curious spectators beyond the frogs basking on the smooth river stones along the shore. The evergreen leaves of Madrone and California Bay Laurel could lull one into believing that summer lingers on in these river canyons, but the lemon-yellow of Bigleaf Maple and orange-red of Poison Oak speak otherwise.
We arrived home in the middle of the night. My first view of the woods behind our house was the next morning when I awoke to the sight of a few tattered leaves clinging to the branches of the Butternut, Black Walnut, Rock Elm and Aspens outside our bedroom window. It seems that autumn has arrived and perhaps even fled in anticipation of an early winter. It’s a shock to the system to move from the green river canyons of the west, to the gray, naked forests of the northeast in less than a day. Still, it’s good to have been there – and good to be here too.
Although I’m home, I’ll be writing more about the trip in the west. In more ways than one, it was a personal odyssey and there are things that I’d like to write about and photos to be shared. I will get to them soon — just as soon as I settle back into the routine of life here at the farm.
Tags: autumn
October 18th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Welcome home, Bev. Those may be bare gray trees, but they’re *your* gray bare trees!
October 18th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Thanks, Wayne. It’s actually good to be back home. I will miss the west and my friends and especially my travel companion, but it’s good to be here at the farm again. Yesterday, we restocked the fridge with vegetables and I cooked a good dinner. It was nice to be able to prepare food in my own kitchen, although campsite cooking was kind of fun too.
October 18th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Glad you are safely home. I have missed your regular posts.
Autumn peaked quickly this year in our part of south western Ontario with all the rain, wind and snow. But there is still some of the season left for you to enjoy.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Ruth – Thanks… I am glad to be home again. I’m still feeling a little disorganized after being on the road for almost 5 weeks, but also feeling inspired by my trip — feeling like there are things I would like to write about, and I shot huge numbers of photos that will need to be sorted through, but some of that can wait until the weather turns colder. Autumn seems to have peaked quickly here in eastern Ontario as well. Don says that the rain and cold weather seemed to take down most of the autumn leaves. Yesterday, Sabrina and I went out for a walk through the back of the farm. While the leaves may be gone, there are still some asters in bloom and I found several bumblebees crawling over the flowers. If the sun comes out and things dry out a bit, I’m sure I’ll see other familiar signs of autumn.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Welcome home, Bev. Autumn has arrived here the pacific northwest. Our alders have lost their leaves. We are already able to see more of the Olympic range through their naked branches. I’ve been out picking the good apples, and they are quite good! Cold nights and rainy days. Ah fall.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Thanks, Robin. I’ve been “feeling” autumn through the final part of our travels even though the weather and foliage seemed different than back home. Maybe it is just an instinctive thing. Since arriving home, I cooked one of our favourite cold-weather dinners. Later this week, I’ll make Butternut squash soup one night. I always tend to get into a soup and bread-baking mood once the leaves have fallen.