The Geese Going Over

In the village store someone says,
"I heard the geese go over,"
and there is a moment of silence.
Why this is so moving, I do not know.
But all of us feel it.

~ Gladys Taber ~

A flock of birds appeared in the sky. They flew high above us with no seeming sense of direction, whirling aimlessly as snow. Once the whole flock tumbled toward us, then suddenly swirled and soared into a V formation, rising upward and out of sight. They swooped right out of the sky. How did they know, I marveled, when to stop falling earthward and soar upward? How did the word get to each one when to turn, when to glide, when to flap a wing? How was it that not one of them ever bumped into the other? Where they came from and where they went I could not tell.

from I, Keturah (235)
by Ruth Wolff

~ Click for more autumnal imagery from I, Keturah ~

Thanks Nataliya!

Leaves & Lace

~ From Inside Looking Out ~

"The heart of Autumn must have broken here,
And poured its treasure out upon the leaves."

Charlotte Fiske Bates
American poet and essayist, 1838 – 1916

******************

"There is always one moment in a day
when I think my heart will break. . . .
It may be when you turn and look down
a blazing autumn road or it may be when you
see your house under great ancient trees . . . "

Gladys Taber
American naturalist and columnist, 1899 - 1980

~ Same Tree Seen From Outside ~

P.S.
Check out these beautiful seasonal blogs:

Stillness at Cherith & Irish American Mom

Memory of Summer

The mums from Happy Hollow School are always last the longest!

"Some of the days in November
carry the whole memory of summer
as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise.
These are the days I especially love,
when the air lies soft and quiet over the dreaming earth;
it is a reflective and thoughtful time."

from Stillmeadow Daybook, 161
by Gladys Taber (1899 - 1980)

Come Little Leaves

"Beautiful, dramatic October,
I wish it could last for a year!"
Gladys Taber

One of Gerry's childhood favorites from
Treasure Magazine
Reprinted from Look and Learn
Come, Little Leaves
by George Cooper

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day.
"Come over the meadows with me and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the sweet little song they knew.

"Cricket, good-bye, we've been friends so long,
Little brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say you're sorry to see us go;
Ah! you will miss us, right well we know.

"Dear little lambs, in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
Fondly we've watched you in vale and glade,
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"

Dancing and whirling the little leaves went,
Winter had called them, and they were content,
Soon fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a soft mantle over their heads.

also by Cooper . . .

October's Party

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

Then, in the rustic hollow,
At hide-and-seek they played,
The party closed at sundown,
And everybody stayed.
Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly "hands around."

Come, little leaves . . . and . . . play with Beaumont!

Gently Keen

Of his pre - autumnal photos,
Missouri Photographer Jay Beets writes:

"Everything is busy and changing in September
~ an amazing month!"

Gladys Taber writes:

"As summer wanes, we cherish every mild dreamy day.
I love the soft blue haze,
I know summer still walks the lanes,
but the frosty slipper of autumn is just behind.
We now get up early -- or what the books call betimes . . . " (132).

from Stillmeadow Daybook

Ruth Sawyer writes:

”Fall weather was the best
weather for making friends.
You met everybody coming or going;
met them alive and eager and made friendly
by the gently keen September air. . . .
There was a flooding of sunshine,
but the air had a knife's edge to it;
you could feel winter on its way" (32, 71).

from Roller Skates (emphasis added)

More Queen Anne's Lace

Perfect Moments

Some Beautiful New Paintings
from my friend Carolyn Rathbun George*

"There is always one moment in a day when I think my heart will break. Such a moment I think all women have, and men too, when all the meaning of life seems distilled and caught up and you feel you can never, never bear to leave it. It may be when you turn and look down a blazing autumn road or it may be when you see your house under great ancient trees or it may be, in the city, when you look up at a towering apartment building and see one light and think “that is mine.” It may be any one of a number of things, according to the circumstances of your life.

“But there is the moment, and all the heartaches and sorrows of your life suddenly diminish and only the fine brave things stand out. You breathe sharp clean air, your eyes lift to the eternal wideness of the sky.

“Anybody has moments like this to store up, but some people are too busy adding up their frustrations to appreciate them. And yet all we need is an awareness of the beauty in life to make us richly content. My definition of happiness is just the ability to garner the perfect moments” (48, emphasis added).
Gladys Taber
American naturalist and columnist (1899 - 1980)
from Stillmeadow Daybook

Previous references to Taber:
"Every Day Luminous"
"Plotting the Ressurection"

Previous post on
Perfect Moments

*Carolyn says:

"My stuff is VERY affordable if any of you would like to have one. I also do custom pieces. Depending on the size, most of the smaller works are under $100.00. Lots of detail . . . done with paint pens. Looks like watercolor but so much easier and fun . . .
. . . This one is small -- 4" x 5"
on 100% handmade cotton paper."

Plotting the Resurrection

Garden in Fall / Garden in Spring

The esteemed essayist E. B. White (1899 - 1985) writes admiringly of his aging wife sitting in the autumanal garden:

" . . . hour after hour in the wind and weather . . . the small hunched-over figure, her studied absorption in the implausible notion that there would be yet another spring, oblivious to the ending of her own days, which she knew perfectly well was near at hand, sitting there with her detailed chart under those dark skies in the dying October, calmly plotting the resurrection."

from E. B. White's Introduction (xix)
to Onward and Upward in the Garden
by Katharine S. White (1892 - 1977)
long-time fiction editor for the The New Yorker magazine
Plotting the resurrection.

Or to put it another way:

"A garden is evidence of faith.
It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also
planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting."

~~Gladys Taber~~
American naturalist and columnist (1899 - 1980)
Author of the Stillmeadow Journals
AUTUMNAL QUOTES AND MORE CAN BE FOUND ON
THE FORTNIGHTLY KITTI CARRIKER:
LITERARY BLOG OF CONNECTION & COINCIDENCE
"SWEET BASIL EVERMORE"

Every Day Luminous

Still life with Chinese Lantern Plant (Physalis alkekengi)
. . . some say "Invasive" / I say "Luminous"
If you're not a fan of Susan Branch, you should be! Autumn From the Heart of the Home is one of her many celebratory books, filled with delightful drawings, charming calligraphy, tempting recipes, and inspiring seasonal quotations, such as this:

We are in for a spell of perfect weather now,
every day luminous, every night brimmed with stars.
Picnics at noon, supper by the applewood fire at night,
a walk in the cool moonlight before bed.

Gladys Taber
American columnist, 1899 - 1980
Author of the Stillmeadow Journals