I love this mellow version of WALKIN' MAN by James Taylor:

Here is a link that might be useful: Well, the frost is on the pumpkin...

Hmm- Not many takers for October? Here's a pic I took in SC last fall. Missed the peak by a couple days.

Have faith Gargoyle, it's still early. Here is an unfinished piece I started a year or two ago. Like the train, I'm not certain where this piece is going but it felt right when I wrote it.

A Train Called Life

October rolled through me like a bullet train. A blur of faces and scenes rushing past a window closed tight to protect me from harm. Flashes of light, color and darkness burning their brief images into my mind like a slide show in a darkened room, set to fast forward.

The train, determined and unstoppable, hurtles down the track passing mercilessly by the place I desperately wanted to stop. I am merely a passenger, uncertain of my destination, but unable to get off.

So I accept my fate and resolve to embrace the comfort and passion and pleasures of my fellow travelers. Random souls brought together by chance, searching, waiting for their stop along life's rails.

I saw you once. Your heart exploding from the critical mass of dissimilar emotions fighting for control of your soul. Love, passion, ecstasy, pain, bitterness, unable to occupy the same space and time. But you were a blur, a passenger on a passing train, a lonely goddess, Aphrodite. I reached out, but both windows were closed tight. The windows....they are there to protect us.

So on we go, rocking back and forth, the wheels beating out the rhythm of the rails. The steady beat of the clock counting down the remaining minutes of our lives.

~Scott~

Thanks...we are still waiting for leaves to change. Depending on our weather they can be great or get frozen before turning. I love fall though, wonderful calming before the tranquility of snow.

My 95 yr old Mama's favorite poem. Thanks for the opportunity to share.

October's Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

Helen Hunt Jackson

We've had a stretch of dry weather--I was shocked to look out the living room window yesterday, and see that the trees across the field are starting to turn. It just seems way too early!

Scott, you receive my absolute admiration for being able (and unafraid) to produce such wonderful work.

Thank you mama goose. I don't write often because I have to be in a particular zone or mood and unfortunatley, those moments are fleeting. Maybe someday.

Scott

I didn't realize you wanted everyone to participate. I love that tree! Our leaves haven't started turning here yet but it shouldn't be long now.

Ever since my son, my only child, died on October 27, 1995, I have always said that October is the cruelest month.
So beautiful the sky and the changing leaves, promising joy and giving pain. Unbelievable pain.

This year will be the 15th anniversary of his loss, and I try each year to put it behind me.

I have respect and understanding for the Bible verse:
For God so loved the world
He GAVE his only begotten son....

For any parent, that is the most awesome loss to endure.
I would not be able to do it.

Moccasinlanding, I am so, so very sorry for your loss ....
I have always thought that losing a child must be the very worst pain. They are not supposed to go first ....

"I have respect and understanding for the Bible verse:
For God so loved the world
He GAVE his only begotten son....

For any parent, that is the most awesome loss to endure.
I would not be able to do it."

AMEN!

((thanks))

Tomorrow in late afternoon my brother will fly back to New Orleans, ending almost two weeks we've spent together. We had a great time, with the weather cooperating nicely.
We went to Boston and did a bus/trolley tour, since none of us have good knees for walking around. And then he wanted to see Gloster where they made the PERFECT STORM movie. And we then spent a day driving through New Hampshire up to the border of Maine, and the trees up there were GORGEOUS. We caught them just in time, because the following two days were rainy and with high winds, the trees were dropping their leaves all over the place. Then last night we took all of DH's family out to dinner with my brother as guest of honor. He fits right in, and really if DH and I had married 50 years ago as we were supposed to, he would be a real uncle to them all. As it is, they just treat him like he is Unka L. DH always enjoys these gatherings, because the granddaughters are all getting so grown up they do not have much time to spare for us older folks. I love to see how their personalities are developing and they are turning into accomplished young women. The youngest is 6, and she is, they say, JUST LIKE ME, even though we are not blood relations. I like having my own granddaughter, but love them all.

ML, I am so sorry for the loss of your son. Fifteen years, or a hundred--I'm sure you'll never be able to get used to the loss. It's good that you can spend time with your DH, your brother and your grandchildren--pleasure you take in family gatherings can be a welcome distraction.