It’s starting to feel like winter is around the corner, so I’ll just post a few photos from my New England autumn before the snow falls.
Below, clouds over the Seekonk River in Providence, Rhode Island, and chess-playing foxes in Fox Point. Also in Fox Point, the notorious Mayor Cianci’s plaque honoring both composer George M. Cohan — and Cianci himself.
In the same neighborhood, I got a kick out of the name of a 19th century homeowner. And a jazzed-up staircase across the street.
Back in Massachusetts, I found a nice shot of a different kind of staircase (jazzed up by light and shadow), then two fungus photos (one flower-like) and Starbucks receipts decorating a telephone pole. The pastry chef, age 11, has more baking experience than most adults.
In the what-the-heck-is-it department, there’s a decorative plant at Debra’s Natural Gourmet that is not milkweed but looks sort of like it. Any ideas?
Next comes Sally Frank’s magnificent Black Sycamore print in a frame reflecting my table lamp. Then a derelict house waiting for the land developer’s bulldozer, and a special map for the town’s 250th anniversary in 2025. Did you know the Revolution started at the North Bridge? Not with the Declaration of Independence, as significant as that was.
Photo: Tualatin, Oregon. The day of the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta is a great day in Tualatin, Oregon.
Although Halloween is the “hallowed” evening that comes before All Saints Day, I don’t think it has ever been as serious as that sounds. Human spirits were said to come out of graves and dance around, maybe do a little mischief. And living humans picked up on that playful aspect of the day.
In my part of the world, a holiday focused on fun fits in with harvest season, and ghosts get merged with pumpkins.
Talk about fun! In Providence you can walk around the lake at Roger Williams Park and enjoy hundreds of amazingly carved pumpkins on every imaginable theme. In Louisville, Kentucky, Meredith’s daughter, Alene Day, works on a similar event and is a genius at the art of pumpkin carving. (Click here.)
A festival called Pumpkins and Pints takes place in Tualatin, Oregon. From the town’s website: “Since 2004 people from around the country have gathered to watch costumed characters paddle giant pumpkin boats in a series of races. This fun-filled weekend [features] a giant pumpkin weigh-off, the 5K Regatta Run/Walk, and Pumpkin Regatta festival and pumpkin races. The giant pumpkins are supplied by our friends from the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers.”
“We grow ’em big!” PGVG says. “The Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers (PGVG) is an association of gardeners focused on the fun-filled, competitive hobby of growing obscenely large vegetables. While Atlantic Giant pumpkins and squash are often the show-stoppers, we grow and recognize all fruits and vegetables on the international competition list defined by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. …
“As a community organization, we hope to encourage individuals and families to enjoy gardening together. We strive to treat all of our members equally and fairly, and are always looking for ways to improve our organization for the benefit of our members. Above all, we want the hobby of gardening and growing giant vegetables to be fulfilling, rewarding, and fun.”
Travel Portland also emphasizes fun: “Just when you think you’ve seen everything, you realize you’ve been missing the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta. Since 2004, this cherished local event returns to the Tualatin Commons every October with a series of races. The races are exactly what they sound like: costumed competitors piloting a gaggle of gigantic gourds through a watercourse on Tualatin Commons Lake. The regatta kicks off the day before the races with a pumpkin weigh-off at the Pumpkins and Pints event at Stickmen Brewing. The following day consists of a full day of pumpkin paddlers plying the shallow lake in giant pumpkin boats.”
What can I say? I was already speechless at “Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.”
Photo: Travel Portland. Paddling a giant pumpkin takes perseverance.
For the first time in years, I’m at home for Halloween. I’ve been alternating between Suzanne and John’s homes, which has been a lot of fun. Besides, all the children in my neighborhood grew up and moved away, so there have been no trick-or-treaters on my street for a long time.
Now some young families have moved in. I want to see the little ones in their costumes — and avoid driving on such a night. I’ll let you know if I get any takers for the candy, Goldfish cracker bags, or juice boxes.
Meanwhile, I want to share a few photos of the season and hope you like some even if you don’t like Halloween.
I’m starting with the Honk Parade in Somerville. It is on the Columbus/ Indigenous People’s Weekend every non-Covid year.
The band playing at a local church’s fall festival is the wonderful bluegrass group Southern Rail. I can’t resist putting one of their videos at the end of this post.
The boaters are enjoying the Sudbury River in Massachusetts. The meditative bench is on the Seekonk River in Rhode Island.
I love the idea of six-word novels. The creative woman on Sudbury Road had numerous “novels” on pumpkins this year.
Across the street from her yard, the public library featured children’s story books. I’m sure you recognize Curious George.
Don’t know who the banjo players are, given they lack any features, but one seems to be a Union soldier.
Massachusetts got a tree-bending snowfall October 30 while leaves were still attached to everything. I don’t know if we should call it an October surprise or a Halloween surprise, but it’s likely to add to the reasons kids will long remember this year’s mask-required Halloween.
For today’s photo round-up, let’s start with what autumn looked like in these parts before the snow. Amusing, colorful, thought-provoking.
In an annual event on the library lawn, people put up scarecrows to represent their favorite storybook characters. I love the face-shield wielding Wild Thing below kicking a coronavirus soccer ball.
As pumpkins came out in yards, flowers continued to bloom on fences, and sometimes the woods seemed to bloom like flowers.
One day I got it in my head that the white-pine needles on our yew branches looked like wishbones, so I set up a silly shot.
The carved stone marker is located near a retirement home in town. I had never noticed before that it has a word about local celebrity Henry Thoreau.
The mother-baby sculpture is a peaceful one outside a hospital in Boston, where I had to go for an annual checkup. Overall, it wasn’t a peaceful experience because there were so many people. The safety protocols were good, but I am definitely not used to crowds.
OK, the luscious dahlia is not mine. Melita sent it from Madrid, where she reports a State of Emergency has been decreed until May 9!
On this rainy, indoor day, I’m sharing photographs from recent walks. I have been so surprised lately by how much is blooming late in the season. Look at the color of those roses and the vitality of the daisies! I want to get some autumn daisies for my own yard.
As you may have guessed, the flower basket at the street crossing memorializes a death on that spot. The woman who was hit was devoted to nature, so her friends have not been putting anything plastic up. Yesterday I noticed a small pile of smooth stones such as one sees in Japanese gardens.
The next shot, of an old tree stump, was taken on a trail that branches off from our local cemetery. I often walk in the cemetery because it is so beautifully landscaped, but I had never taken this path along the wetlands because it’s usually too swampy. I enjoyed trying to guess where the trail would emerge and I was almost right.
I was also drawn to a tree stump by a stone wall on the Codman House grounds in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Sometimes there is beauty in decay. Some might regard the old formal gardens with the ionic columns as representing a different kind of decay, although I must say, the statue looks pretty alert and energetic to me.
The farmstand and a homeowner’s gourd-and-pumpkin display speak for themselves. They remind me I should add a bag of candy to my delivery order on the off-chance we actually get a trick-or-treater this year. It’s been years. But a toddler just moved in next door, so I have hopes. Maybe his mother would prefer something other than candy though. What do you suggest?
Next I have two of the pieces of art from this year’s Umbrella Art Ramble in the town forest. I liked the hanging rowboats and the fishnet strung between trees. The theme this year was “Water Change: Where Spirit, Nature, and Civilization Meet.” Some works spoke to the different ways we use water. Some spoke to increasing shortages. In our own town, we have been suffering from a drought, so the pieces were especially relevant.
Finally, beautiful clouds. I don’t need to tell anyone here that some of the best art is not of human device.
I’m old enough to have lived through many contentious election cycles, my mother having gotten my help going door-to-door when I was 7. So I’m here to tell you, life goes on. The old world keeps turning. The seasons come around. Dawn lights up city streets. Those who seek kindness and beauty find it.
In spite of the drought, Massachusetts trees displayed some of their best colors this year. I’m sharing one photo taken along the Concord River, another that barely does justice to this month’s reds and golds, and a third that intrigued me because the green leaves were pink only on their tips.
Other photographic offerings include a name shadow at Bondir restaurant, where we had lunch today, a pirate skeleton with his skeletal parrot in a Lowell bookshop/café, lovely plants in the café, an artist working en plein air, shadows of ivy trying to break into the house, and four book-themed scarecrows at the public library.
The first scarecrow was inspired by the book Strega Nona, the second by If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. The third scarecrow promotes the library’s seed catalog, and the fourth celebrates the counting books.
Don’t you wonder how the library came to do all that work? There must be 20 scarecrows altogether. I’m trying to picture the meeting where the boss says, “We’re doing scarecrows for Halloween. Who volunteers to do what?” Or maybe it was more spontaneous. It sure looks like people had fun with it.
Nice to run into Judith and Paul at the annual downtown farmers market. We always talk shop a little because we worked together in the ’90s. I was interested to hear she is back doing writing for our former colleague Kate, currently a principal at leadership consultancy SweetmanCragun.
Now about these pictures: Main Streets Café is always creative with their seasonal displays. I don’t know that I would think of lining up pumpkins under a bench. The squashes are from Hutchins Farm. First Root Farm’s display includes radishes, beets, and carrots. The chrysanthemums and asters were tempting, but the car was parked too far away for me to carry a big plant.
Finally, please note the funny vehicles the kids are racing. I include a close-up of several late-model vegetable cars. (Pick a squash; add wheels.)
This is the time of year for walnut trees to bear fruit, for bees to bring in the last of the wine, and for block parties. Beacon Hill’s party is way more elaborate than any block party in Concord and is considered a time to raise funds for a cause. See if you can guess which party is which.
I saw the first pear
as it fell—
the honey-seeking, golden-banded,
the yellow swarm
was not more fleet than I,
(spare us from loveliness)
and I fell prostrate
crying:
you have flayed us
with your blossoms,
spare us the beauty
of fruit-trees.
The honey-seeking
paused not,
the air thundered their song,
and I alone was prostrate.
O rough-hewn
god of the orchard,
I bring you an offering—
do you, alone unbeautiful,
son of the god,
spare us from loveliness:
these fallen hazel-nuts,
stripped late of their green sheaths,
grapes, red-purple,
their berries
dripping with wine,
pomegranates already broken,
and shrunken figs
and quinces untouched,
I bring you as offering.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 