Autumn - The Most Beautiful Season of the Year?
Many people feel that fall, or autumn, is the most beautiful season of the year. With the leaves on trees and shrubs changing colour from green into shades of yellow, orange and red, the countryside, parks and gardens look as if they are celebrating "the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness." The effect is especially enhanced late in the day when the sun is lower in the sky and shines through the wonderful colour of autumnal foliage.
We are probably genetically programmed to love the fall. It's the season when harvest is gathered in. Our ancestors would have relied on a good harvest to get them through the winter so the colours of ripening crops must have given them great joy. This is still reflected in Harvest Festivals and Thanksgiving.
Contents
- The Colours of Autumn
- More Fall Colour
- Autumn
- Harvest Festivals
- More Autumn Festivals
- Thanksgiving
- More about Thanksgiving
- Halloween
- Halloween and Other Autumn Celebrations
- Harvest Now, Eat Later
- Back to School in Autumn
- Teachers Go Back to School Too
- To Autumn by John Keats
- Your Favourite Fall Event
- Stazjia's Social Networks
- Senior Squids
- About Me
Senior Squids Challenge - August 9 to 15 - Fall
The Colours of Autumn
Very Popular in Autumn
This picture was taken by Arpingstone in Westonbirt Arboretum, in the southwest of England, UK. The arboretum is open to the public all year round but it is especially popular in autumn when people come to experience and photograph the wonderful colours of the trees.
Picture from Wikipedia and in the Public Domain.
More Fall Colour
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Autumn Beauty
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Autumn in America is a beautiful time of year. I have experienced the beauty of autumn in many parts of America and each has it's own special glory. I have seen the beautiful colors of a cool crisp autumn in Maine, the spectacular Aspens in Colorado...
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The Song "Autumn Leaves"
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A classic, timeless song! Autumn Leaves was written in 1945 in French, "Les feuilles mortes" ("The Dead Leaves") with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prevert. Yves Montand introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 for the film Les Por...
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Fall Colors In The Smoky Mountains ~ Romantic Get Away
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Fall colors in the Smoky Mountains can make for a magical romantic get away that will never be forgotten. The cooling days walking hand in hand through the rustling leaves, followed by the chilly evenings in front of a fireplace or in a hot tub can s...
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 12/22/2009)
Designed for children between the ages of 4 and 8, this 32 page book has one brief acrostic poem for each letter of the alphabet from acorn to zero and follows the fall season from end of summer to chilly conclusion.
The two reviews on Amazon.com give the book five stars and both comment on the lovely illustrations.
Harvest Festivals
The Tradition of Giving Thanks for the Harvest
The picture on the right reminds me a little of Harvest Festivals in our local parish church in Devon, England, when I was a child. The difference is that Devon is a very rural county and there was far more produce given for the Harvest Festival service. Later, it would be given to those in need.
This seems to be a worldwide tradition and, in mainland Europe, the arrangement of harvest produce can be intricate and beautiful as you can see below.
A Harvest Festival 'Carpet', The Church of St John the Baptist, Landkreis Ravensburg, Germany
Copyright © Bene16 - Creative Commons License
More Autumn Festivals
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Fall Festivals In Indiana
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Autumn in Indiana is simply gorgeous. During the month of October there are many Fall Festivals and activities that are held around the State that are perfect for families and couples. Our challenge this week at Senior Squids was to create a lens ab...
Thanksgiving
A Major Fall Tradition
Thanksgiving seems to be the North American equivalent of the Harvest Festival. The difference seems to be that Thanksgiving is more generally celebrated there than Harvest Festivals are in many other countries, particularly the UK where usually only regular churchgoers celebrate. In Britain, regular attendance at church is now fairly unusual for the majority of people.
More about Thanksgiving
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Thanksgiving Table Accessories
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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. A time for families to get together and give thanks for the past year. There are so many colorful ways to decorate for Thanksgiving and today I would like to address decorating your table for the day with...
Halloween
The Day the Border between the Living and Dead Disappears
Halloween is thought to originate in the Celtic pagan festival of Samhain, a celebration of the harvest and the time to slaughter and preserve animals for winter.
Celtic pagans believed that on this day the dead could walk among the living and blight crops and cause sickness. The bonfires and fearsome masks, still traditionally part of the modern Halloween, were used in ancient times to keep these restless spirits at bay.
Halloween and Other Autumn Celebrations
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Fabulous Fall And Autumn Tableware
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It's fun to decorate for Fall Dinner Parties ~ A cozy dinner table is easy! I love decorating for the holidays! It's fun, it can be easier than you think, and it gives the home such a warm and cozy glow. Let's talk about our Fall (or Autumn, if yo...
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Halloween Party Favors For Trick or Treaters
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Wouldn't it be just a little more fun to include an extra treat or two with our little Halloween ghosts and goblins' candy this year? I've been wanting to do this for awhile so I've got my thoughts together and have some ideas for Halloween party fa...
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Creative Costumes for Couples and Groups
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The people of South Louisiana love to celebrate and have fun. To us, masking is an art form, so every Halloween and of course on Mardi Gras, too, adults and children alike take to the streets and go to parties dressed in some very imaginative costume...
Pumpkin & Vines Cookie Jar Ceramic Brightly Handpainted
Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009)
Intricately detailed cookie jar in the shape of a pumpkin complete with stalk, green leaves and decorative berries it stands 8" high x 9 3/4" in diameter.
Both reviews on Amazon.com describe it as "beautiful" and give it five stars.
Harvest Now, Eat Later
Preserving Harvest Produce
I love making jam (preserves) and marmalade. I find it immensely satisfying converting excess fruit that we just couldn't eat fresh into something we can eat for months to come. I feel much the same about making pickles and chutneys too. It's good to do something that is so traditional - a task that people, usually women, have undertaken for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. It gives me a real feeling of continuity.
Just like most people, I have a modern freezer and I make the desserts and cakes with autumn fruit too. Not as traditional as making jam and canning but still very useful and frugal. Why waste food when there is such an easy way to preserve it for later use?
Recipes for Fall Produce
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Fruit Harvest Recipes
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What could be better than strolling out into your own garden and harvesting fresh fruit and using it immediately? You can choose not to use chemical fertilisers or pesticides so, not only are they as fresh as can be, they are free from pollutants too...
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CAN IT!
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While we all love fresh fruits and vegetables, the sheer volume of the local bounty can be a bit overwhelming at this time of year. The farm markets are overflowing with piles of colorful peppers and tomatoes, peaches and plums. Our gardens are prod...
Putting Food By (Plume)
Amazon Price: $11.05 (as of 12/22/2009)
The fourth edition of this classic guide to freezing, canning, and preserving food includes new information on freezing for the microwave, making Christmas presents, canning convenience food, and kitchen equipment.
24 people out of 28 gave this book five stars in their Amazon.com review.
Back to School in Autumn
Schoolgirls and teacher in cookery class, circa 1899
Fall is the time for children to return to school after the long summer vacation. It's also the time that very young children experience their first day at school - usually momentous occasion for parents and child.
Teachers Go Back to School Too
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Autumn is Back to School Season
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For most people, fall is time for colorful trees, bringing in the harvest, and cooler days. I enjoy those things, too, when time permits. But I sell what teachers need to start the school year off right. Many teachers and home schooling parents wait...
On My Very First Day of School I Met...
On My Very First Day of School I Met...
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/22/2009)
Amazingly colourful book for children about to start school, it introduces a wide range of crazy creatures that a child meets on the first day like a blue gnu and a purple cow. It's designed to reassure young children that they have nothing to fear when they go to school.
To Autumn by John Keats
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Recipes for Fall
Sarah Fritschner's Holidays: Menus and Recipes for the Fall Holiday Season
Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009)
Fall Flavours: Seasonal Recipes from Canada's Best Chefs
Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009)
The Taste of the Season: Inspired Recipes for Fall and Winter
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 12/22/2009)
Your Favourite Fall Event
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Reply
- OhMe OhMe Sep 11, 2009 @ 7:16 pm
- Beautiful. I am looking forward to visiting the lenses you featured here. Lensrolling to my fall lenses. Thank you.
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- clouda9 clouda9 Aug 18, 2009 @ 6:39 pm
- Beautifully written and illustrated. Fall is my favorite season, especially the harvest of squash, pumpkins and apples!
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- boutiqueshops boutiqueshops Aug 17, 2009 @ 8:36 pm
- Gorgeous lens, Carol! Wow! I'm jealous of the areas where the leaves change colors! Lovely!
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- LaraineRose LaraineRose Aug 16, 2009 @ 7:06 am
- That carpet! Isn't it marvelous! Your lens is beautiful too and a wonderful tribute to Autumn.
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- chefkeem chefkeem Aug 15, 2009 @ 11:50 pm
- A hearty SquidAngel Blessing for your gorgeous lens, Carol! :-)
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- jptanabe jptanabe Aug 15, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
- Love it! Such beautiful colors and thoughts. I love the colors and the smell of fall. But I'm not quite ready for summer to end yet!
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- rms rms Aug 15, 2009 @ 7:28 am
- This is beautiful!
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- BarbRad BarbRad Aug 15, 2009 @ 1:00 am
- You have created a beautiful autumn lens. I love how your pictures capture the essence of the season.
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- drifter0658 drifter0658 Aug 14, 2009 @ 8:33 am
- Colorful! We Americans have so many fall celebrations and Thanksgiving IS huge. But I have to wonder if Oktoberfest isn't more significant.
Beautiful lens Carol.
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- mbgphoto mbgphoto Aug 12, 2009 @ 8:28 am
- Carol, this is such a beautiful lens. Very well done!
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Senior Squids
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About Me
Lensmaster Stazjia has been a member since September 26 2006, has rated 1,422 lenses, favorited 860, and has created 129 lenses from scratch. Carol Fisher donates their royalties to Dolphin Communication Project. This member's top-ranked page is "Classic Funny Poems for Kids". See all my lenses
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