When I stepped outside in the front part of my property yesterday morning, I was surprised to discover some pumpkins growing (I didn't plant them). I hadn't noticed them before, and they reminded me that my favorite month is here - October!
Will they be ready for Halloween?
Rather than bore everyone with one of my usual tediously long posts, I've decided to bore everyone with some autumnal photos from my past - taken in Texas and the Missouri Ozarks (I lived in both places after I left California).
The first year that I lived in Texas I decided to grow some pumpkins. The soil was so dry and the drought so bad, that any semblance of gardening was excruciating work. The above photo is what my efforts yielded. That was my first and last Texas garden.
All in a row.
More from my Texas garden
This is the lake that I lived by in West Texas
Every autumn, thousands of Canadian geese would migrate to the tiny town where I lived in W. Texas. I took this photo when the moon was rising.
This is my cat Scratch (also known as Kitzee) when I first got her from an animal shelter in Odessa, TX. She was three or four months old. October, 2005.
Me in the Missouri Ozarks. I actually loved it there, except for the fact that there were storms about 350 days a year.
I was in an extremely bad relationship in the Ozarks. We almost wound up killing each other. Hillbillies are great in bed, but not easy to live with. Especially alcoholic hillbillies...
In Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, near Springfield, MO. Site of a Civil War battle.
The Ozarks is where I became a good ol' country boy
I'm risking my reputation posting this pic, because I look like an old scarecrow.
What reputation, Jon?
This was taken at a farm somewhere along old Route 66 in Missouri. The horses were made of hay (as if you couldn't guess).
hay hay hay! all these photos put me in an autumnal mood.
ReplyDeleteA pretty time of the year, I just wished it stretched into January, and spring started in March.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post! I am doing my fall touches around the house today finally. I too love October and not just because its my birthday month, but there is just something in the air to love.
ReplyDeleteJon,
ReplyDeleteAren't the fall colors just the best? Hard to believe it is October already. My favorite time of year too. Probably because my birthday is in the fall. That's the time of year that is most people's favorite, the season they were born.
Ron
Any alcoholics are hell to live with--even the "happy drunk" ones, speaking from personal experience. Glad you got away. ;) Lovely fall pics.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, Jon! Especially like pumpkins in a row. They look like they could sprout wings and fly off like geese. Norma has been photoing wedges of geese overhead lately too. The old battlefield scenes are severe reminders of what can happen when government by discussion fails --or what happens when soldiers forget to put cannons away when they're done with them. In all, fine autumn scenes --my favorite season.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures ! You've lived in many places I'll never see since I was only in the US once. The golden month has come again - and I'm so glad to be living where there are Octobers to enjoy. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream comes to mind. That is a very nice picture of you by those hay horses. Scarecrow - no way.
ReplyDeleteI like, a lot, the pictures of the fence. My nephew makes fences like that, and splits the logs himself, with some old logging/milling equipment the family has.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Jon
Cheers,
Mike
October is also my favorite month, I just love all the colors; and it is my birthday too.
ReplyDeleteYou may be the only other soul on the planet who loves autumn as much as I do.
ReplyDeleteSince Fall in this part of the country usually occurs mid-December for about 24 hours, your pictures are a FEAST. Love the Ozarks, in particular.
PLEASE tell me more about the Ozarks and the drunken hillbilly. You sure can pick'em, Jon. By the way, I am a hillbilly. There's no such thing as someone who once WAS a hillbilly. It sticks.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't see two horses. I see three jackasses........but no horses. Love you, sweetie.
Looking good in those SNUG pants in the last photo .... ;)
ReplyDeleteHEY! SOMEBODY FINALLY NOTICED!
DeleteI noticed but I didn't want to give you a big head.
DeleteEnjoyed all your pictures, glad I didn't miss them.
ReplyDeleteLovely Autumnal photos Jon! Everyplace you live has been interesting. Enjoy your October in the good old Tennessee Hills !
ReplyDeleteHappy October! May you enjoy cooler temperatures, and less rain. It's been cool enough to sleep with the windows open the past few days, so it's probably about the same there.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased that, at your suggestion, I got to opening up this post of yours. The photos are quite remarkable - and visually at least, very atmospheric indeed. Shows well how the other half(?) lives.
ReplyDeleteI too love October (like Maddie, above, it's also my birthday month) but it's more for the colours and smells of the season than anything else. There's always a sense of nostalgia about the past around now, with any hot days definitely behind us. But what overbalances it in the other direction for me is an apprehension of what the following few months might bring. Though it rarely turns out to be as bad as it could be it always gives me a sense of nervousness, though with your own greater extremes of weather you'd have far greater reason to be concerned for that reason - even though you probably aren't. September/October are certainly about the most photogenic months, at least of those when floral blooms aren't in profusion.
October is my favorite month, there is an intense feeling of nostalgia and I love the autumnal colors - but, as you said, I really dread the coming of winter! I wish we could skip winter and go directly to spring.
DeleteYes, if only - but, as Nature demands it, a case of rough with the smooth.
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