Photo-Finish Friday -- Fall Along The Highway

Autumn along the David Thompson Highway west of Rocky Mountain House.
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Thrice click for full screen if you so desire.

Gratitude Monday -- Seasonal Thanks

I've always loved the change of season and I am especially fond of autumn.
The trees put their very best colours out in a last hurrah before the wind and snow strike them bare and put them to sleep.
I feel the best in fall. The playful nip of frost in the air awakens me. I am my most alive when the rest of my world closes in on itself.
Perhaps it is the quiet of life this time of year. It's life, but calmer and inward-seeking.  It is the meditative season before the sleep of winter, and I am grateful for it.
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The photo is a familiar one to long-time readers.
It's a tunnel under a train track by the river and each fall I go through it as my own personal passage to my best season.

Photo-Finish Friday

Autumn has a lot to offer.

Gratitude Monday --New Fall Colours

I love the changing of the seasons. How else can one know how good a season is unless there's something with which to compare it?
Each must be assessed on its own, but to do it there must be a point of demarcation.
I am blessed to live in a land where the change of the season is both obvious and beautiful.
Autumn arrived officially on Saturday. No one told the leaves to wait so they began donning their new fall colours a few weeks earlier.
For as much as we may lament the turn toward winter,  we appreciate the final burst of joy from Nature as she quietens for the cold.
I am grateful for the changes of my world, grateful I can see it and smell and it feel it on my face, and grateful for what each new seasons brings.

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Regular visitors may find the photo familiar. I take pictures of this train trestle archway each year. Th e above photo was taken yesterday.  For me, it is the portal to the new season.

Photo - Finish Friday -- Around the Bend

Who's coming with  me around the bend?

Photo-Finish Friday-- The Road to Autumn

Fall comes to the West Country.

Gratitude Monday --This

I am thankful I can drive a few minutes and see this.

Near Autumn at the Lake

Jackfish Lake, near Nordegg, Alberta

The leaves start to turn before the calendar does out here. This photo was taken a few days before autumn officially started.
I used the colour extraction filter on my camera to enhance the yellow of the leaves. I thought it underscored the changing season.

A Time To Every Purpose

We wave good-bye to summer.

As autumn comes around the corner.

Happy change of seasons everyone.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Autumn Moment

Autumn has its glorious moments.

Photo-Finish Friday --Gone Fishing Edition

Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day. It was the kind of day you know in your heart is a gift and if you don't accept it, then you'll kick yourself on all those other days that are less a gift.
My husband had the day off so we escaped. We took a drive out west along the BigHorn Highway, known here as the Forestry Trunk Road, and spent part of the morning fishing at the pond pictured above.
This pond was once a gravel pit. It has long since been reclaimed and is stocked with trout. It's a gorgeous setting and it makes what would have been an eyesore into a relaxing destination spot.
The fish outsmarted us, as fish do, so we let them be and went on our way further down the trunk road. It made for a wonderful day in the West Country.

Random Acts of Autumn

Welcome to Autumn in the West Country.

Please come through with me.

A fine rhubarb crop rests on my altar.

Four hills of potatoes from my little garden gave me this.

A guest in the yard enjoys a bit of cool in the late afternoon heat.

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visit.

There is a Season

Rosehips in the sandhills at Horseshoe Bend near Fort Assiniboine. Fall comes a bit early there.

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1.

And for others among us this may be more familiar:

Either way, enjoy the change.
Happy Autumn, everyone.

Signs of Life

Green is still out there though less and less of it is apparent.
I've seen a few smaller fields of it here and there the past few days. It's kind of startling to see green against the dried yellows of fall.
This bit of rose bush stood out against the dead leaves on the ground at Crimson Lake on Sunday.
Good to see life hanging on as best it can for as long as it can.
Nature is a fighter. She's a good role model for us.

Against the Sky

A fleeting moment of golden autumn, captured.

It's a much better day.
I've caught up on many things and even managed to bake an apple pie in honour of the season.
Time was found for writing this morning.
I am no longer railing against the sky.

Gratitude Monday - Threshold to Autumn

Today is the autumnal equinox, the day we cross the threshold to autumn.
Fall is the gathering season. The time of harvest and the collecting of the summer’s abundance and the time of shutting down for the cold sleep of winter.
Nights are cold and crisp and days a mix of sun and gray. I can feel myself slowing down and wanting to stay indoors. It’s a time for the last flurry of warm weather work before the other flurries come to drive us indoors.
I’ve always loved this time of year. Harvest on the farm was a busy, exciting time. Bringing in the grain from the field was dusty, but fulfilling. I love the smell of harvest, especially on the warm days that held an edge of frost.
I used to climb in to the grain bin and shovel the barley as it poured in through the auger from our five ton grain truck. I used to hold my hands under the shower of grain from above. It’s a rough, sensual feel.
I miss it and I miss spreading the grain around to the corners and then sitting in the big, square granary window for the next load.
Barley itches. It did not bother me then.
I miss those days, but I have my memories. They cannot be taken from me.
For the times and the memories I am grateful.

Autumn Grace

Autumn is touching the land once more with its gentle caress of changing colors.

For as sad as we may see it, the season brings the harvest. Soon the land will rest in the cold sleep of winter to be reborn in the promise of spring.

Memories

Memories of autumn for a cold, late fall day.

The Path To Autumn

Where does the path lead you?