Monday Moanings - September 28, 2015

Last Things
(No, not an apocalyptic treatise, but just some observations on this the last Monday in September)

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It's the end of September. Though autumnal splendour has yet to fully evolve, the leaves, coloured or not are dropping. The beginnings of a Fall carpet lies across the forest paths

...soon little ones and big kids like me, will be able to scuff through thick layers of brown, yellow and red. Rustling, crackling, crunching - the leaves last words of the season...

... a testament to the blessings of summer.

The last winged wonder swooped in six days ago. Now the hummingbird feeder hangs unvisited, except for the flies, its sweet nectar un-sipped by slender beaks.

I did not plant any tomatoes this year, yet the plants appeared in the garden - my wild bunch! Now the last tomatoes cling to the struggling vine. It's been so warm in September, the wild bunch continued to set fruit despite withered stems and leaves. Some will make it to ripeness, others will leave seeds for next year's wild crop.

The last geranium blooms, scraggly and desperate, valiantly proclaim living colour.

No longer a full lush broadloom, the lawn is an uninspiring patchwork of green clumps and emergent brown tracts. As much as I love lawn mowing, by this time of year, it has lost its connection to my Zen zone of reflection and tranquility. The last run of the lawn mower is imminent, and may even have happened yesterday! Now there's a happy thought!

And last night, much of the world was treated to a rare sight in the night sky as earth slipped between the sun and a supermoon. A total lunar eclipse spilled a red shadow across the biggest, closest and brightest supermoon of the year - a blood moon. It was the last time to see such a coincidence until 2033.

Here's what it what it looked like if you were in Dallas, Texas:

image taken by Mike Mezeul II 

My photos are not nearly as impressive. First of all it was cloudy here...

...and then when the moon did break through I struggled with camera settings and a tripod with a wonky leg.

Finally just before a thick cloud bank moved in, I clicked off this last shot:

Life is rearranging, changing wardrobes, ever moving on, and last yields it place to first.

©2015 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - September 24, 2015

Autumn Overture - Hitting all the High Notes

This is my favourite season - a symphony, a classic tone poem of colour and form, tempo and texture, light and shadow; always changing, always moving toward its inevitable conclusion. The opening movement of this annual performance has been full of promise of the presto of colour now only just hinted at.

The high notes of bright sunshine and warm days have been modulated by cool nights, with not single ice crystal yet etched in the time signature. The frost will surely come but for now only early morning mist blurs the fledgling grace notes of colour before lifting to reveal ever-brightening yellows and reds.

And it's just way to lovely for me to sit inside writing. The opening to this season of gratitude will not remain so gloriously melodic, and I don't want to miss a single note.
See you out there!

©2015 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - October 2, 2014

The Yellow Line Rant

I am so ticked off! And every time I look out the front windows the flames roar back to life, ramping up the annoyance level each time. I have lived on this street for 36 years. It is a lovely country road just in off the highway, and most delightful when all dressed up in Autumn splendour.

Thanksgiving 2013

Yesterday morning I awoke at the usual 7:30 and sauntered to the bathroom. A glance out the window there, revealed a misty cool Autumn day, one which despite the low light, was dripping with colour. I grabbed my camera from the desk and clicked off these images:

Dressed and ready for the day, I headed off to the kitchen curious as to what the world outside my front door might look like in the muted light. I opened the blinds, camera at the ready and gasped. Indeed there was colour - a fresh bright yellow - a big fat yellow line down the centre of the street.

I went to bed in a house on a country road. I woke up in one on a city street. The Secret Squirrel Line Painters had struck! (if you watch the BBC program, MI -5, you'll appreciate that last comment)

Okay, okay its only a bit of paint I know, but what were they thinking? It was that question that I put to our town councillor in an email. I was pleasantly surprised by his quick response, though not so much with the content of that response.

Apparently there have been complaints about excessive speed and the lack of clear lane separation on Cherry Street. What a centre line has to do with speed reduction I'll never know, but I have to agree with one thing he said about improved visibility during dark, wet and snowy conditions. In fact day or night now in any weather, one can't miss seeing that centre line.

I also agree that appropriate safety measures trump aesthetics.

Still, I can't help thinking that some country charm been lost and with that perhaps also some safety for bicyclists and pedestrians. It seemed to me today as I watched the cars go by, that now that drivers have a centre line to go by, they can speed right along confident of the lane separation, yet this road is hardly wide enough for two lanes and there are no shoulders. It may be safer for drivers now, but on fine weekends any time of year this is a street full of pedestrians - parents with children, dogs and strollers, seniors taking the air, neighbours out for a ramble, and bicyclists of all skill levels. Will a big fat yellow line keep us safe too?

Time will tell...


©2014 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - September 29, 2014

Moaning Moratorium

It seems just plain wrong to moan about anything on this, another glorious Autumn day in southern Ontario. The sun is shining; the sky is brilliant blue; it's a warm 24°C. And the leaves are exploding with colour. They are also falling. I couldn't help but notice a constant dripping sound, something like the sound small raindrops make when they meet a solid surface. A reminder that these amazing days of Indian Summer will not, cannot, last. So it's best to make the most of gems like this.

But the umbrella is up on the deck,
          and a chair invites me to come,
                     sit a spell.

I dare not refuse such hospitality.

Happy Monday!

©2014 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - September 25, 2014

Indian Summer

There was a frost last week, a morning dusted in white.

And now we are basking in Autumn days filled with warm, almost high summer temperatures and brilliant blue skies - Indian Summer.









I stepped outside my front door last evening and into a place of stunning beauty. The last rays of the sun angled high to light up the tree tops. The greens, the golds, the reds and even the browns vibrated with colour.

I took a stroll around the outside of my house this afternoon and even in full light the colours dazzle.
It is the reds though that always take my breath away.

And I am so privileged to live here in the middle of an Indian Summer in full bloom.

"With the golden glow of peaceful contentment

        may I truly appreciate this autumn day."

Edward Hays - Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim

©2014 April Hoeller