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Posts Tagged ‘fall’

Photos: Suzanne’s Mom.

After an unexpected visit from mushroom hunters in September, I’ve started paying attention to what pops up after rain. It’s not that I want to eat wild mushrooms, but I would like to know something about them. Their names for example. I do know the one above. It used to be called Indian pipe, but nowadays, it’s called Ghost pipe, a name that works for me. [Late note: See naturalist Kim Gaffett’s helpful corrections in the comments below.]

Just from noticing a little more, I’ve realized that the round yellow ones with the white dots flatten out after a few days. I haven’t decided if I want to pay for the mushroom-identifier app, so if you’re a micologist, maybe you could tell me the little guy’s name.

From my walks in Massachusetts: there’s a black squirrel who lives along the bike path, unusual around here. Kathleen’s garden box features a gigantic aster practically dancing with buzzing pollinators. Pat’s garden box has late-blooming dahlias. The milkweed announces fall.

From my walks in Rhode Island: New Shoreham’s West Side beaches are quiet in the evening. One view shows the goldenrod that covers the island at this time of year. The tiny frog is, I think, a peeper, normally seen in spring. The shark on the rock celebrates a big anniversary for a famous movie that gave white sharks a bad name. The cloud photo shows the sea at its most benign. The one after that shows its dark side, a tombstone for fishermen whose bodies will never be found.

From where I live now: artwork that includes a metal fish by Cassie Doyon and Muppet-like shapes by Joan Mullen. Finally, an early morning view of the Sudbury River from our fitness center.

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Photos: Suzanne and John’s Mom.

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.

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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.

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Oops!

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!

After the dahlia is my attempt at creating a Maxfield Parrish.

Stay safe, stay warm, but try to get out in the fresh air for a bit every day.

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I wanted to share a few photos documenting a view of New England’s transition from fall to winter. (Maybe it’s not officially winter, but we have had our first snow.)

I start off here with one of my favorite photographic subjects: shadows. These are shadows of late-autumn weeds. Next we have a view of French’s Meadow along the Sudbury River. It is nearly always covered with water from the river escaping the banks.

Concord was the site of the military funeral for Tom Hudner, Korean War hero and a native of Fall River, Massachusetts.

The classroom picture was taken December 12, when students from a Providence English-as-a-Second-Language class where I volunteer gave me the sweetest thank-you celebration. Many of them also took phone videos of me trying to replicate the dancing of a Congolese woman in the class. Now I am worried about how many Facebook pages it’s on.

The gingerbread house is the 2017 version by the woman who does one every year for the town library. Each year’s is more amazing than the last. Note the little duck pond in the lower left.

The Grasshopper Shop, a women’s clothing store, put out a tree decorated with the holiday wishes of children. How sad that one child would have to wish “that North Korea doesn’t nuke anyone.”

The deciduous holly and white pine are pictured after our first snow. The town was really pretty when my husband and I walked through the shadows cast by streetlights and holiday lights on our way to dinner that night.

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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.

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We turned on the heat and started wearing warm coats. (I’m even wearing gloves and earmuffs in the early morning, but don’t tell anyone.)

I think it’s time for a round-up of late summer scenes in New England before the snow flies.

First come two pictures illustrating the Providence claim to fame as Creative Capital. Then shy mushrooms. Next are four photos from New Shoreham, including horses and a turtle who really hoped I’d just go away.

Moving right along: lovely shadows and fall colors in field and farmstand.

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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 CafĂ© 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.)

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In my part of New England, Daylight Savings is drawing to a close with cold, wet, dark presentiments of the season to come. Seems like a good time to think about the fun we had in October.

Artist Don Eyles floated a pyramid in Fort Point Channel until a storm blew up. Suzanne, my husband, and our middle grandchild visited the sheep and other animals at the Audubon Society’s Drumlin Farm.

At work, we had a pumpkin-decorating contest. My team did Miss Piggy, porcine Muppet diva, to use the Wall Street Journal identifier. (Left to right, Elvis, the Monopoly Man, Miss Piggy, Edgar Allan Poe, Chia Pet, and Gonzo.) A Halloween band marched surrounded by babies, kids, and adults in costume all around blocked-off Providence thoroughfares near the Brown Street Park.

More quietly, chrysanthemums soaked up sunshine.

Here is a bit of background on the pyramid, in case you are interested.

“In 1998 Fort Point artist Don Eyles floated his first pyramid in Fort Point Channel, marking the water as a venue for art and opening the doors to years of temporary art installations to come. The installation was a bold move, made independently, and completely self-funded.”

“ ‘Consider the history that has passed along the cobbled streets of Boston — all the men and women, famous or unremembered, who have walked and rode here … always with granite cobblestones beneath their feet and wheels. I have long dreamed of making this history tangible, by constructing a great pyramid from the cobblestones uprooted by the City’s recent development.’ ”

More on the Pyramid and other Fort Point projects at tumblr, here.

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A time of year to get creative with squashes, visit a farmers market, kayak on a river, roof the barn.

Get it all in before winter. Only the wooly bear knows for sure how long the winter will be.

Photo of farmers market: Sandra M. Kelly
Other photos: Suzanne’s Mom

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About a week ago, I noticed that a homeowner in town had placed sweet little pumpkins on her fence posts, about 20 pumpkins in all.

Something must have gone wrong soon after, because today her pumpkins all have anti-theft messages on them. Cute, if somewhat contrary to the original festive spirit.

The first one below says, “No — stop! Think of the Guilt! What would your grandmother think?”

The second one says. “Help me! Lost pumpkin. Please return to Sudbury Road.”

Will the messages shame the target audience?

It reminds me of volunteering in seventh grade to paint approved pictures on shop windows at Halloween. The idea was to co-opt the kids who soaped windows on Mischief Night. Alas, I don’t think any of them volunteered to do the approved paintings.

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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.

Orchard
by H. D.

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.

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