Fall: A Time for New Beginnings

Regrettably, I've been on quite an extended leave of absence from this blog. Life has been very busy--and full of change--for this family. My daughter graduated from high school last May and just recently got her driver's license, a car of her own, and started classes at a nearby community college (30 miles away but nearby for us), where she's studying photography and journalism. Armed with my old camera and a new MacBook, she is now officially launched into adulthood and I am (mostly) free of parenting and chauffeur duties and school volunteer work so perhaps I'll be able to update this blog more often and devote more time to EcoPrints.


I'd like to get back into the swing by posting a photo to mark this first day of fall, as fall is my absolute favorite season.

Skyward Aspens

Autumn on Conifer Mountain

There is a harmony

In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,

Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been!

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

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 Click on the image below to view more nature photos.

Autumn Reflection

Autumn Splendor #4

November comes

And November goes,

With the last red berries

And the first white snows.

"Autumn Reflection"
(click on photo for larger view)

Bright orange foliage is reflected in a quiet pool of water.

Bear Brook State Park, Allenstown, NH 

With night coming early,

And dawn coming late,

And ice in the bucket

And frost by the gate.

The fires burn

And the kettles sing,

And earth sinks to rest

Until next spring.

~ Clyde Watson

For me, despite what the calendar shows, autumn is over when November is over:  "Earth sinks to rest," as the above poem, says. And as I relish these last few quiet days of fall before the hectic holiday seasons begins, I reflect on autumns past and remember a place I loved to hike in my youth. One glorious fall day in New Hampshire, as I walked along one of my favorite trails, I came across this beautiful tree in full foliage reflected in a pool in the stream that follows the trail. My camera always at the ready, I was able to capture the moment.

The light patch about a third of the way down on the left is a rock just under the water. The shot I took was of the tree upside down from the opposite bank but I thought the tree looked better upright.

View more photos at www.ecoprints.net

Autumn Foliage

Autumn Splendor #3

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."  
~ George Eliot

"Autumn Foliage"

(click on photo for a larger view)

Shorter days signal the remarkable
transformation of fall in the Rockies.
Reynolds Park. Conifer, Colorado

Aspen Leaf on Glass

Autumn Splendor #2

While fall Aspens are normally bright yellow, they can on occasion be a brilliant orange or red, which makes the trees bearing such leaves truly stand out in the crowd.

Aspen Leaf on Glass
(click on photo for a larger view)

Aspen Gold

Autumn Splendor # 1

Autumn is by far my favorite time of year and unfortunately, due to illnesses running through our household this year, I missed it. And it missed me. Even here on the mountain, which is normally glorious, there was a dismal show of color. I imagine the foot of snow we received earlier in the season had something to do with the aspens simply going from green to brown.

But, thanks to the magic of photography, I have more than memories to go by.

Aspen Gold

(click on photo for a larger view)

Aspens from a previous fall near my home in Conifer, Colorado.

Winter Comes Early in the Mountains

Mountain Living #1

(click on photo for a larger view)

        First Day of Fall: September 22, 2009

Winter has come early to the mountain. Our first real snowfall dropped more than a foot of snow--and it's still coming down. It's lovely to watch--but I admit that I'm not quite ready for winter yet. The aspens haven't even started to turn here at the house.

And it's always strange to see snow clinging to green leaves. . .