Golden Fall
Autumn has come. It came on fast actually. The leaves held their green for as long as they could in this wet warm autumn. Now finally the trees have begun to turn their coats and the leaves to release their tenuous hold on life and fall. 
I never rake up leaves I let them lay about the tree looking glorious. It is part of natures design and I love the leaves of autumn. In fact soon I will begin to drive down the alleys of the local small town and gather up bags of leaves raked up by the locals and throw them into the chicken shed to shredded up by their scratchy feet. I throw bags and bags of leaves into the flower gardens to keep the weeds down in the spring. Some bags I leave in the garage so they can decompose into leaf mold. 
I even find it hard to disturb the sheer artistry of leaves laying on the path. This short, short part of the season is almost a relief, a small reluctant smile as the summer drifts away.
The next wind will clean up these trees. Did you know that sometimes wind is not air being ‘blown to’ but air being ‘sucked away’. Depending on pressure and hot and cold of course. You can see how it would get all out of control and become a turmoil. And the wind blows is a nicer phrase than the wind sucked.
Out here under the big sky it is impossible not to be fascinated by weather.
TonTon is seen here carrying a leaf around in his mouth. I think he is a bit embarrassed to be caught picking up leaves. When he is busy he compulsively picks something up, and this time it was a leaf.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
36 Comments on “Golden Fall”
Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER:
DO A LITTLE SHOPPING:
Thank You So Much For Your Kind Help with Maintaining This Blog
thekitchensgarden 
I love the silhouette of the rooster! And all your leaves. Ours are long gone, here in east-central Minnesota. I was looking at the bare trees the other day and thought, “Just another seven months until the leaves come back…” Sigh!
sigh indeed – the winters are a long time to go without colour
The line from Shakespeare’s 73rd Sonnet always comes to mind~ “Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang…”
What a lovely first read of the day. Those images are outstanding… and calming. We have very little color here but I expect soon there’ll be a change. The deer are beginning to move in the woodlands. It is a good sign of cold weather to come.
I always wait for your pictures. They are glorious, colorful and interesting. It is a beautiful read. Thank you.
That has got to be one of my all time favorite posts. Not sure why, except that you have so perfectly, in every way, captured autumn, and I love you for it. It is my favorite season, I think.
The photo of the rooster is very cool, but I love all of your autumn photos. You have such a beautiful place to live. This has been an incredibly wonderful season and it looks like we will have warmer-than-normal weather for at least another week. I feel as though it’s been a blessing to everyone who has to put up with the Midwest US winters.
I have been enjoying your autumn pictures, we just go from green to brown and more brown. The wind always sucks, especially when it doesn’t bring rain 🙂 Laura
Fall seems to be Mothers Natures way of filling our eyes with color and delight – so that during winter we can close our eyes and see our memory of the fall. It is her way of helping us cope through the dim and dormant months. Fall is my favorite time of year. Spring is glorious but Fall is all MINE being a November baby. Happy Autumn Miss C!
But Miss C, it is a pretty leaf says TonTon! I was on a walk the other day and enjoyed picking up 2 beautiful maple leaves each with unique and beautiful coloring! I laughed out loud at the difference between “the wind blowing or the wind sucking” — in deep winter when the temp is well below zero there is no doubt the wind sucks! Lovely pictures of autumn and the fall in your part of the country. We have been blessed to have such nice weather so far. Have a blessed day!
When I think of sucking winds, I think of hurricanes, having grown up in a hurricane prone area. But, the image of the large cloud blowing the wind is common….never seen him sucking! A funny thing to think about. Today is Friday and I am glad. Your green, green grass with the yellow leaves is so pretty. Leaves provide so many gifts, oxygen, carbon dioxide absorption, shade, weed control and compost. But I digress…you got me thinking! Have a wonderful day and pet the dogs for me. They are good boys.
The cows don’t seem to mind 🙂
My favorite season, this autumn. It’s been a gloriously long one here in southern Minnesota. Temp to reach nearly 70 today, meaning one less day of winter.
Love the leaf in the dog mouth pic and the vast sky pic.
Fall is such a beautiful time. The end of one season and the beginning of the next is always picture perfect to us. XOXO – Bacon
Oh Miss C, such a beautiful autumn environment you have photographed. I love the fall, and I even love raking leaves 😉
Looking again (and again) at those last three photographs, it’s fun to imagine what the chicken, the dog, and the cow are thinking–the chicken especially: caught looking down on her neighbors? or just curious about the antics in the street, as I often am.
I wonder, do the citizens of that little town gossip about the leaf lady? Collecting someone else’s leaves– now that’s a new one! But it makes so much sense. Another lesson about the cycle of life. I saw a man with a leaf blower yesterday. He was shooing the beautiful leaves willy nilly out into the street to be crushed by cars and, presumeably, washed down the storm sewer by the coming rain. Reading your version of reverent leaf disposal makes me feel so much better today.
For you, it’s Keats’ ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’. For us, it’s the time of new leaves, of buds, of sudden rampant growth after a short, hard rainstorm. I miss those days of red and golden showers of leaves here in the tropics, where leaves rarely fall…
I love being under the trees at their brightest red or golden colors when their colors reflect off of me. Or absorb me, not sure which. Lovely thought and photos today. We have amazing color this fall in SE Michigan.
Here I have a canopy of purple-blue above and a carpet of the fallen blossoms below……the jacarandas are in flower. I like to leave the fallen blossoms on the ground too, it’s like a mirror image. I love the misty cows and shadow rooster.
I miss the autumn colors of Illinois. None to speak of here in Texas. Thank you for sharing.
Love these Autumn pics and those on Instagram 🍁Autumn is my favourite season despite being the precursor to my unfavourite, winter. We don’t see as much fall colour due to our sub tropical east coast Australia location but what appears is much appreciated. Our Spring this year has been gentle so far with a few welcome storms, but predicted to hit the 30’s next week. We too wonder what the next season will bring. Hopefully rain but not too much
Speaking of wind, I learned this year (at my advanced age) that it’s the wind that holds up the clouds. I never knew that! It makes me sick to know how little I know. But I know a lovely dog when I see one. Does TonTon enjoy being petted? If I ever met him, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him, yet I am getting vibes, he isn’t the petting kind. That he would say something like, “Get real, girl!”
Lovely autumn leaves. Autumn is a favorite season for so many of us maybe because it is so very poignant, reminding us of how very fleeting life is.
Oh No – TonTon is a fool when it comes to being petted – you could pat him all day long and he would lie at your feet in heaven – he loves nothing better. Boo likes to be boisterous and play but Ton loves to be stroked.. c
Oh so agree with you about not raking up leaves and leaving them on the ground to do their thing! And living in a gated community do I get into trouble for doing so even tho’ I have but about 5-7 deciduous trees!! ‘These are dead leaves, Mrs C, and they look frightfully untidy: will you attend to them please’ – have even had groundkeepers arrive with rakes and scowly faces – hmmm, to be sent away 🙂 !! Lovely photos especially since I am not looking forwards to 34 C next wee . . it is still spring . . .
I do envy you your autumn colouring… it is something we don’t really get here in NZ, with most of the native trees being evergreens. I want to go to Wanaka one year in the autumn, it’s the only place in NZ that gets anything like the colours of your autumn, and it’s a bit closer to home than the USA! Lovely photos as always.
I spent a of of time in Christchurch as a child – i remember the autumns begin gorgeous.. maybe you are too far North c
Lovely, lovely. We don’t have blazing colors here in Sacramento. But then our winters are so mild. It might get down to 45°F but that’s about it. In Sacramento the winter means rain. We sure need it. You can’t even see the river while driving on the levee. So I Yes I too am grateful for your lovely descriptions. I would not trade firey leaves if it meant I had to suffer through snow. I spent 13 winters in the state of Maine, so I know from snow. Much love, your Gayle
Around here, we call that leaf rustling. When my kids were pre-teens, I would load them up in my station wagon and we’d go around picking up neighbor’s bags of leaves. We’d have to go after dark because my kids were mortified that somebody would see them.
That is funny! Leaf rustling – I might use that saying myself c
I never rake up leaves either. I always thought they were to keep the roots warm in winter. We had to finally rake up in spring because that was our fire season up in the Arizona mountains. Here in Oregon, I don’t worry about fire as much. I didn’t know chickens would break down the leaves for you. The leaves and sky in your photos are stunning.
We gather bags of leaf litter here at the zoo. Tulip poplar and mulberry are favorites and are consumed by many species. They’re like potato chips! Other animals like to bed down and hide in them.
Mulberry is good feed – high in protein..
I love the picture of the clouds and the colours of the leaves. Nice way to use the leaves as chicken linoleum.
Love that photo of Ton.
Spent Friday battling the leaves in front of my home and that of my neighbors. Can’t help but think of Mom & ZIa. They never raked the leaves, letting the wind do it for them. The only wrinkle in that plan was that, depending upon its direction, the wind blew the leaves back and forth between their properties. It was a running joke every fall. “You know, you really should do something about those leaves.” “Don’t worry, I will.” 🙂
Striking picture of rooster.
I love leaves on the ground, too. Not only the sound walking through them, but the ground becomes an impressionist painting. When we had the farm, each Thanksgiving was spent raking the leaves – almost knee high – before they got soaked and wet – and difficult to move where you wanted them. Lovely experience to enjoy.
(Molly picks up sticks – any stick along the way – instead of leaves. Those little doggy brains are so busy)
Ah Celi .. Love your images. The last two are super! Yes I leave the leaves to do their thing. Mind you leaf mould is wonderful stuff 😃