A-Z : I Remember... Autumn

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AUTUMN  is my favourite season.

I love the colours of, brown, bronze, burgundy, green and gold.  Has this anything to do with the fact I was a "September" baby - as were my grandmother, mother, aunt, two uncles and husband?   These colours were staples in my wardrobe in the days when I was a brunette, and still feature  in my  home decor.  

 I recall as a child:

• Scuffing my shoes through the leaves, and enjoying the crunchy sound - this still appeals to me!

My little granddaughter enjoying
a walk in the woods

• Collecting different coloured leaves to take home and make a picture.
  
  
  
  
• Gathering berries (hips, haws and rowan) to take into school for the nature table.

The rowan berries  in full bloom 

• Gathering blackberries in the hedgerows and bilberries among the heather - and turning  our  lips purple as we sampled the fruit. 
   
• Watching my mother turn the glut of apples, pears and plums into tarts, sponges, crumbles, jellies and jam.

• Singing harvest hymns at school and Sunday school - among  my favourites  hymns with their rousing tunes and evocative lines "~We plough the fields and scatter",  "Come ye thankful people come, sing the song of harvest home", "To thee, O Lord our hearts we raise" , and of course "All things bright and beautiful "  where I especially liked  the image created by the verse

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

Autumn also meant for me new beginnings – of a new school year, armed with a new pencil case or satchel, new shoes or uniform.  Later on it meant the sense of anticipation of a new university year in Edinburgh, riding on the top of the bus on a crisp morning, seeing the castle and the Royal Mile skyline rising above the trees changing colour in Princes Street Gardens.  

I was lucky enough to spend a year in New England. USA  and -  yes -  I became a "fall foliage leafer peeper" 

 Fall in New Hampshire

Now living in the Scottish Borders, the autumn gold colours can be magnificent - we just don't always get the clear  blue skies to show them off!     Autumn comes early, when there is a different smell to the  early morning air in late August.  The light in the sky changes and  mist hangs over the valleys.

I once read of someone who hated autumn because “everything was dying”.  I thought what a pity that they could not see the beauty in this time which to me is truly  epitomised by Keats’ classic poem  - I know it can be regarded as  a cliché, but it is so apt:

"A season of mist and mellow fruitfulness"



What is Your Favourite Season? 

Onto B's Abounding 
Babies, Birthdays, Brownies, Breakfasts .....

 Copyright © 2016 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved