Brisk autumn winds are rustling through these final days of October, rudely shredding fragile leaves from trees and impatiently sweeping away the golden memories I desperately try to retain.
Last week was glorious, with balmy sunshine and a burst of Indian Summer accompanied by 80 degree temperatures.
This week was dismal with heavy rains courtesy of tropical storm Zeta and languid mists that nestled in the Tennessee forests and hills.
Last night the temperature dropped drastically, reminding me that November waits in the wings with the somber promise of winter.
Earlier this week I stepped out on the front porch one morning and saw a whitetail deer in my front yard.
I grabbed my El Cheapo camera, eager to take some pictures, when - out of nowhere - two work trucks came rumbling down the narrow road that winds past my property. The deer got scared and ran away...and I only got one photo.
When I first moved here (six years ago) there were lots of deer, wild turkeys, and other beautiful critters of the forest. Unfortunately, a steady influx of logging trucks and hunters are destroying the harmony of nature.
After the deer ran away, I took a few more photos from the front porch. The colorful foliage is fading quickly.
And the misty back yard (below)
Yesterday afternoon (Thursday) the rain and mists finally blew away, leaving clear skies for the end of October.
I had planned on posting lots of Halloween-oriented things this month, but a myriad of personal problems have been sapping my energy and inspiration - to the point where I'm completely drained and hardly able to function.
But enough of this.
Halloween is nearly here. Let's savor the final remnants of October.
Your poetic heart is showing, cowboy. Really. Your opening paragraphs are especially stirring, and your word choice, dang near perfect.
ReplyDeleteI hope those gorgeous blue skies hang around for a while. There's something distinctly uplifting about that kind og beauty. If you feel low... look up. (But don't hold your mouth open...)
Take care of yourself. Oh, if I were giving a prize for the best song choice to represent 2020, you'd win, hands down. I never heard of the song you suggested, but now that I've listened to it, I won't forget it. Just like this year.
Susan, I always keep my mouth closed when birds are above me in the trees...and I never attempt to eat falling snowflakes....(*smile*)
DeleteOkay,I LOVE King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King is a masterpiece album - but I always considered "21st Century Schizoid Man" to be their worst song. It's very appropriate, however, for representing the chaos of 2020.
I love the misty photo, but especially love the blue sky ones. So vivid! It's windy here right now, so I'm thinking that many of our leaves are falling right now. November is a dreary month around here.
ReplyDeleteI love that photo, too. The mists and fogs are very frequent here and I never get tired of seeing them.
DeleteYes. Let's savor.
ReplyDeleteI hope there's an upswing soon for you. :)
I suppose you'll be having a white Halloween?? We had frost last night, but no snow yet. Autumn is passing much too quickly.
DeleteWe've had snow about 4-5 times but it finally melted away the past two days when we got above freezing. Supposed to be warmer for a good week--in the 4s and 50s! So no snow for Halloween after all. ;)
DeleteBeautiful! ... Both the deer and the glorious blue skies. Still hoping you'll do a video for us. (Did you happen to see the two I did a few days ago?)
ReplyDeleteLet's go grasp November with both hands outstretched. What do we have to lose?
Myra, I initially missed your post with the two videos - but I just found it and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the tour of your yard and home.
DeleteI use to take hundreds of videos with my old camcorder, but I'm not quite adept at maneuvering the cell phone. But I promise I'll do some videos in the near (?) future.
It’s been absolutely beautiful here! I’ve had a few deer run out in front of my car while driving this week. It’s mating season, so they are out and about. Are you near the Smokies? My son was there last weekend and saw lots of bears.
ReplyDeleteI'm near the Kentucky border, not too far from the Daniel Boone National Forest. The only bears around TN seem to be on the eastern border of the state. October was initially beautiful, but now the leaves are fading fast.
DeleteI have never seen as many bucks as I have here in Iowa. I even used to hunt! (Thus, guaranteeing you will NEVER see a buck in the forest.) Now, we see them along the road, along the trails, and sometimes on our long walks. Most of the property in Iowa is private though, so unless you know someone, chances are you will no have a decent hunting season.
ReplyDeleteMy property is private, but there is usually a good deal of gunfire nearby. I keep hoping that a myopic hunter won't mistake me for a buck....
DeleteI don't know how much of the wooded property is yours, and I don't know if you are a hunter or not, but is it possible that you could have your property posted as private property and not allow hunting there? Unless you don't mind people coming on your property to hunt. Those were such perfect early Fall pictures, I loved seeing the deer looking at you.
ReplyDeleteLast year in my neighborhood a friend of ours looked out into his 100 foot by 70 foot backyard in an older post WW2 suburban area here near St. Louis and saw a huge white-tailed buck with a beautiful full set of antlers nibbling around the plantings in his yard. The deer spent the day grazing on the lawn and plantings, and then it laid down to rest and stayed until just when it was getting dark and it disappeared over the chain link fences out of sight. It ate quite a bit of my friend's newly planted lilac bush. I hope that deer is smart enough to come back to our part of the suburbs with our small houses and fenced yards every year during deer hunting season. It will be safe from hunters around here. Discharging of firearms isn't legal here, but if there is gunfire, most likely, it wouldn't be at a deer. Some of the rich suburbs with estates hire hunters to come in and thin out the deer in their neighborhoods.
My property is private, and there is a barbed wire fence around about 3/4 of it (the fence was here when I bought the place). I've never seen a hunter on my property, but late one night (last year) there were gunshots very near my house.
DeleteWhen I first moved here I was startled to see a deer looking in one of my windows! I wish I could have gotten a photo of that.
BTW - I'm not a hunter.
As I read this post, I thought how fast autumn left us here this morning as light snow was falling and the remaining leaves were becoming laden with white flakes. The colors were glorious as in your yard, Jon, and I fear it’s downhill from here. I hope you didn’t have any damages from Zeta and nice to see thise blue skies. Too bad the logging trucks are frightening away the animals now.
ReplyDeleteIt's always beautiful to see light snow on autumn leaves. We had frost last night, but no snow yet. October was beautiful but the foliage is now fading quickly.
DeleteZeta brought a lot of rain to Tennessee, but thankfully no damage.
Unfortunately I'm having trouble leaving comments on blogs again. When I updated my Firefox/Mozilla software the problem was temporarily alleviated - but now it's back. HOPEFULLY I'll find a solution soon.
I so love seeing your fall photos, Jon. We have LOTS and LOTS of deer everywhere here as well. One must be especially cafefull driving on the roads at nighttime. They even manage to cross the highways here because the poor things have no where to go with the damned realators taking away their land!
ReplyDeleteBut I digress ... THANK YOU for sharing your lovely pics!