Sunday salon - Fabulous Fall is finally here, in pictures.....

In autumn, here in Canada, we are treated to a glorious array of colours as autumn descends on us.

There is something about the smell of the leaves and the ground, the final harvest, the early frost and fogs and much cooler evenings, that I have always loved.Yesterday I went for a walk.

It was a sunny afternoon, and I'd noticed in the past week that some leaves are starting to change colour.

I love autumn.


It is my favourite time of year.


Whenever I do go on my picture-taking walks, it is now, in the fall. Autumn is slow this year, and only the rare tree is fully changed colours. Sometimes in past years this or next weekend has been the weekend to go out and tour the valleys and hills for the glorious colours. I was most surprised to learn when I lived in England that they have autumn too - we never talk about what autumn is like in other countries, only pay attention to what is in ours. Julia at Piece of My Mind (in Nova Scotia) has also done a picture post about autumn in her area, the link is here.

These are what I saw yesterday. I especially like dark branches against the sky.


There is something about the brilliant colours, like a final array of glory before the leaves die, only to come again in the spring. It's like everything is saying, "now, one more time."


I love the rainy days, the sound of the leaves beneath my feet, the bare branches, the last flowers in the garden.

Melancholy, and dark beauty. Smell of smoke from chimneys in the air. Pumpkins and turkey (for us Thanksgiving is next weekend, right in the middle of autumn), apples and squash,


last roses and mums and daisies.

And what do I do when it's cold and rainy out? Why, I read. I can finally curl up on afternoons with a book, and not feel guilty that I'm missing sunshine outside. Now, as the night draws closer, I drink cocoa and start hiding out in my home, preparing for our long winters ahead. Come, see what my almost-finished library looks like:
I am still missing one more shelf at least (you can't see the books still piled on the floor), but at least A-S is on the shelves! I plan on adding a comfortable reading chair and getting a better reading lamp, and then my reading corner/library will be all set. This is not my TBR shelves, by the way. At the top of my shelves, you can see my bear collection. They think they need a shelf to themselves, but as they can see, there is no room yet.....

So what do you do when it's cold and rainy? What do you love about autumn? Do you take many fall pictures? Are there any traditions you associate with this time of year that you enjoy?


Before I forget, here is today's Bluenose Excerpt. Autumn has definitely put me in the mood for ghost stories!

Dr Robinson of Annapolis Royal used to hear the story of the Grey Lady and, if my memory serves me faithfully, it was from his family that I learned of his meeting with her. It happened one night when he was driving home from a call. He came to an elbow in the road where there was a small bridge that crossed a brook, and there were alder thickets that grew close to the side of the road. As he drew near the bridge his horse stopped. The doctor urged it on but it snorted and jumped and stamped. He got out of his old-fashioned gig with its big spider wheels and went to the horse's head. There he saw the Grey Lady standing in front of the horse and trying to stop him. As he approached, she disappeared from sight. The horse was so agitated that he took it by the bridle and led it along. When they got to the bridge, he discovered that it had been washed out by a spring freshet and, if he had not been stopped in this extraordinary way, he would probably have had a bad accident. He recalled then that other people had told of seeing her on this bridge, and that her appearance was usually a warning of one kind or another. This was a foggy night when he would not have been able to see the gap until it was too late.

Happy reading, everyone!