I fear that between last month's premature killing freeze and some very wicked winds, we've been robbed of most of our fall foliage here.
But we've been enjoying - and taking full advantage of - a long stretch of glorious Indian Summer weather to make up for it, and on a recent lovely evening spent at the local cemetery fulfilling photo requests for Find A Grave, I spied this stately cottonwood. Despite its golden leaves being more muted this year, it's still a standout against the blue sky and its evergreen companions...
Though the local leaves aren't providing much fall color this year, the local skies certainly have been! Here's a sampling of our harlequin sunrise on Wednesday, taken during a five-minute span (from 7:07 - 7:12am):
Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air,
birds and calmness, year’s end and day’s beginnings.
~Terri Guillemets
It was October again... a glorious October, all red and gold, with mellow mornings…
~L.M. Montgomery, "Anne of Green Gables"
In the entire circle of the year there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October, when the trees are bare to the mild heavens...
and you can feel the breath of winter morning and evening.
~Alexander Smith, "An Essay on an Old Subject"
and you can feel the breath of winter morning and evening.
~Alexander Smith, "An Essay on an Old Subject"
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief…
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst…
~Robert Frost
Autumn bowed to place a beautiful crown on the Queen of Morning,
and her velvet robes sway merrily in the chilly breeze.
~Terri Guillemets
There is a harmony
In autumn, and a luster in its sky…
~Percy Bysshe Shelley
Enjoy more October skies ~ lustrous & mellow, glorious & crisp ~ from around the world...
Impressive skies. Sometimes looking up can make you feel really small :)
ReplyDeleteI know. And since I spend so much time looking at the sky, I'm trying to embrace my insignificance. :-)
DeleteBeautiful Sky Shots!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteGlorious! Love the prose and the pics!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm glad you enjoyed my concoction of words and images. I enjoy doing that.
DeleteWow - fabulous sky shots.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous sunrise, and nice shot of the cemetery.
ReplyDeleteIt had been a while since we'd enjoyed a really photogenic sunrise due to our lack of clouds lately, so it was nice to get this one. And the evening was so beautiful and the cemetery so peaceful, I wish I could have captured the serenity with my camera along with the colorful tree.
DeleteI'm glad you get up early and get these wonderful sunrise shots. That way I don't have to and I still get to enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad you have fruit trees and gardens so I don't have to do all that labor but still get to enjoy them! :-) I think I've got the better end of that deal, Jackie, so I'll keep getting up at dawn and posting my photos in exchange for apples, kale, and zucchini. :-)
DeleteWonderful sky shots.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Christian.
DeleteThis series of sunsets leave me speechless.
ReplyDeleteJM, Illinois
Thank you, our skies can often take one's words - and breath - away! (This was a sunrise, though, not a sunset - I want props for getting up before dawn to capture them! Any lazy bum can photograph a sunset, LOL) ;-)
DeleteTW. Sorry your leaves aren't producing as you'd like. But your skies.....not much to say....it must be your low humidity and changeable weather....and your keen eye for beauty in nature. xoxo
ReplyDeleteI know, it's a bummer because I think they'd have been spectacular if not for that freeze, and we'd have had all this beautiful weather in which to enjoy them! But yeah - our skies, how can I complain?? I don't know what it is about the sunrises and sunsets out here, but whatever is responsible for them, I'm sure glad of it! :-) And I thank you for your lovely compliment! I'll let my optometrist know, since I couldn't do it without him! 8-D
DeleteBeautiful skies, and I love that cottonwood!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, SP&P! :-) I'm glad I had one pretty tree to share, at least. Seems like the colors are lovely this year nearly everywhere but here.
DeleteThe fall foliage has been pretty dowdy here, as well. Between the heavy rain & winds, it all went from green to bare trees pretty fast! The cottonwood does look quite pretty between all of the evergreens. I'm glad you're having decent weather lately so you can get out!
ReplyDeleteThe sunrise shots are stunning! So beautifully intense. At least Nature is making up for the lack of colorful foliage a bit with the skies. :)
That's a shame, I'm sure you usually get gorgeous colors there! It doesn't take much to screw up lovely fall foliage, so we should appreciate the really beautiful autumns we do get all the more! (Though I'm not sure some of us could possibly appreciate them any more than we already do!) :-) We have yet another week of gorgeous weather forecast. I have a feeling we'll go from gorgeous to ghastly overnight! So again - we'll appreciate this beautiful weather all the more.
DeleteNature definitely made up for little colors in the trees by putting so much of it in the skies! We've had some pretty sunsets, too - "cotton candy" skies, I call them.
Hope you're enjoying some nice weather for a change this weekend!
Superlative! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteAs always, you are very welcome! :-)
DeleteYour sky photos are enchanting. I get up each morning and look outside immediately as I enjoy the panorama of sky colors over our mountains -- each morning a different view. I imagine you do the same -- you have a great knack of catching the beauty in skies. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteThank you, Barbara! I'm glad you're enjoying the beautiful western skies of your new home! Yes, I do the same, though not always immediately as it's usually still dark when I get up these days! :-) I think the only knack I have is getting up early and pointing my camera in the right direction! :-)
DeleteStunning shots! Wonderful colors :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Irene! (For the stunning-ness of the shots, can't take any credit for the wonderfulness of the colors, lol)
DeleteWow! The skies are stunning! These colors are spectacular!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed them, Mary! Hope you'll be stopping by again today for my latest batch of colorful Wyoming skies! :-)
Delete