Autumn is here

[British Red]

Old Keats had the feeling of it aright. The wheats in and the straw being bailed - stubble fields a plenty. The swallows are certainly gathering and the apples and cobnuts want picking

S[SIZE=-1]EASON[/SIZE] of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,	[SIZE=-2] 5[/SIZE]
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,	[SIZE=-2] 10[/SIZE]
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;	[SIZE=-2] 15[/SIZE]
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;	[SIZE=-2] 20[/SIZE]
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,	[SIZE=-2] 25[/SIZE]
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;	[SIZE=-2] 30[/SIZE]
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

 

[santaman2000]

Worry not, we were referring to the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness in the Gods own country - not the relative heat of a colonial swamp

You're in Texas now!? I thought you were still in England?

You know I have always wonderd just how people in places like Florida keep track of the seasons, I know it must get cooler or hotter and I am missing out on the subbtle things but because it's so obvious to us more northern people with more dramatic changes in whether might miss them but it just puzzles me.

It will get colder here; we'll actually have some ice storms later on (we always do) A more accurate comparison of our winters to yours would be that they aren't necessarily less severe as such; just much, much shorter.

 

[Mesquite]

You're in Texas now!? I thought you were still in England?

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Seasons are great aren't they? The next one is usually the best too

Sparse but beautiful, Funny you should mention it two of my life ling memories are of winter.

1) Late November - Fishing with my dad when I was 8 we where over at the 1'oclock gun on the wirral side of the water and it was just before sun rise, and the sun was just rising behind the liver building and all of a sudden the river was a bar of pure silver and the sky was that beautiful pink red I had a cup of a warm drink in my hands and I was speechless and my dad nudged me and said "You'll rember this for the rest of your life" and I knew as he said it yea I would. I sat there watching it I missed a real bite (proper bent double rod tip) and the fish was so good the later that night and I was trying to describe every moment of that sunrise to my mum.

2) Back in the winder of 2010, it snowed in Liverpool non stop for 48 hours. Then for some reason it was just warm and the snow was melting but then it snapped cold and the ice was every ware and at the time I was working in Kings Business Park in Prescott I got a bus to work one really early morning for a 7 or 8 am start. I got of the 89 and it's a little bit of a walk from that bus stop to the office and wow I missed that Ice patch and I slipped on my back and wanged my head. Landed in a bush, I looked up and the sky was clear and I could see the moon and there was this bunch of twigs just encased in ice with a cobweb with the moon in it's center. My first thought was my that's a lovely arrangement shortly after my lovely moment is broken by me realizing a bit of glass is stuck in the back of my head, followed by walking into work taking of my coat and the boss telling me I am going to hospital.

 

[British Red]

There are certainly moments in time that will stay with you. I think they are what you see as you die.

I've travelled all over and seen some lovely things, but nothing beats a Shire horse standing under a meadow tree in the misty half light. Constable would have thrown away his paintbrush and wept.

 

[Mesquite]

There are certainly moments in time that will stay with you. I think they are what you see as you die.

One such moment for me was early one morning when there had been a hard frost. I looked up at the new moon and was admiring it in a starry sky when a meteor flashed across it.

It was a priceless sight for sure

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Of all the seasons I have to say I love the autumn most. It's almost as though nature saved the most amazing spectacle for us to appreciate and cling on to before the hardships of winter.

 

[Macaroon]

Seasons are great aren't they? The next one is usually the best too

What an excellent sentiment that is; when one can feel like that, what problems could there be of any real importance?

Reading that has made my evening

 

[santaman2000]

Sparse but beautiful, Funny you should mention it two of my life ling memories are of winter.

1) Late November - Fishing with my dad when I was 8 we where over at the 1'oclock gun on the wirral side of the water and it was just before sun rise, and the sun was just rising behind the liver building and all of a sudden the river was a bar of pure silver and the sky was that beautiful pink red I had a cup of a warm drink in my hands and I was speechless and my dad nudged me and said "You'll rember this for the rest of your life" and I knew as he said it yea I would. I sat there watching it I missed a real bite (proper bent double rod tip) and the fish was so good the later that night and I was trying to describe every moment of that sunrise to my mum.

2) Back in the winder of 2010, it snowed in Liverpool non stop for 48 hours. Then for some reason it was just warm and the snow was melting but then it snapped cold and the ice was every ware and at the time I was working in Kings Business Park in Prescott I got a bus to work one really early morning for a 7 or 8 am start. I got of the 89 and it's a little bit of a walk from that bus stop to the office and wow I missed that Ice patch and I slipped on my back and wanged my head. Landed in a bush, I looked up and the sky was clear and I could see the moon and there was this bunch of twigs just encased in ice with a cobweb with the moon in it's center. My first thought was my that's a lovely arrangement shortly after my lovely moment is broken by me realizing a bit of glass is stuck in the back of my head, followed by walking into work taking of my coat and the boss telling me I am going to hospital.

There are certainly moments in time that will stay with you. I think they are what you see as you die.

I've travelled all over and seen some lovely things, but nothing beats a Shire horse standing under a meadow tree in the misty half light. Constable would have thrown away his paintbrush and wept.

One such moment for me was early one morning when there had been a hard frost. I looked up at the new moon and was admiring it in a starry sky when a meteor flashed across it.

It was a priceless sight for sure

I've got loads of good memories. I suppose the best though is when I was a kid, me and Daddy eating breakfast before daylight in the kitchen at his Mama's farmhouse before we went bird hunting. It was an old farmhouse: no heat other than the one fireplace in the living room, a tin roof, and you could hear the timbers creak as they settled at night. Fresh eggs from the farm hens, hot coffee, fresh milk from the farm cow. The bacon was store bought as she didn't keep hogs, but still very good. Likewise the grits were store bought. And all the while, anticipating the first covey rise!

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

One moment of winter that appeals to my inner geek, you know that moment where your in the middle of no ware miles from a road or house and you get a bright flash across your vision?

Yep it's a thing and it's called a bright flsh and they are cused by the reflection of the sun's ray's from satellites reflecting from PV arrays, I can't find the site at the moment but there is a list online of when and ware they can happen, I have it bookmarked some place and I had a lovely night one timing a odd night where lots happened in once place in a hour with some friends, and a telescope (really powerful one) watching the nights sky.

I really want to do that again soon.

 

[JonathanD]

There are certainly moments in time that will stay with you. I think they are what you see as you die.

Yeah well, that's probably because you have a wife that can cook. The last thing I'll see as I'm dying is probably a plate or the toilet, and my gravestone shall read Here lies Jonathan Deval..... Stay Back - Biological Hazard.

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Santaman, I have one like that one morning - I was maybe 10 and my dad and his mates had been out for the evening before and my dad came back late and we had things planned (I think it was shopping), and my dad woke me up early an took me to this old beat up road side caffee it looked like it should have been condemned but inside it was spotless and the food was fantastic, it closed down last year but they guy who owned it cured his own bacon and reared his own chickens and used them to make the finest full english in all the land.

I made it a point of matter to go once a month when I learned to drive, an I took many trips there with friends before going fishing. Infact the first time me and my friend took his son fishing for the first time we took him there and Richie the guy who owned it gave dean the same free hot chocklet he gave me when I was his age and said Your going to catch the big fish today, a year later Dean still brags about that day.

And it was fun, really fun.
Edit:
Oh an Dean my friends Son, it was his birthday last week, and for his birthday I gave him his first hand made fishing rod, I wove his name on the for grip, and his dad got him a reel and line his step mum got him the end tackle. After school on his birthday we picked him up and took him fishing, and some of his friends (an dad's) then to a pub with a huge adventure playground after, I would love to post the pic's but I want the OK from carl and the other dad's before I do.
But this one kid is a foster kid, didn't have any one to go with (an had ****ty foster parents) to the PE teacher took him along and he loved it, it's supposed to be his birthday soon so we might do this again but just for this kid and I will build a rod for him (an buy him the rest) really shy kid but opened up big time with a fish in his hands and was really asking questions about tackle and fish etc. Feel sorry for the kid, crappy parents and crappy foster parents. I want to give the kid something fun and happy give him something that's his.

 

[British Red]

Yeah well, that's probably because you have a wife that can cook. The last thing I'll see as I'm dying is probably a plate or the toilet, and my gravestone shall read Here lies Jonathan Deval..... Stay Back - Biological Hazard.

Has Em's cooking really taken a turn for the worse? You seem bitter Jon

I'm sure she has.....other qualities

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

Hugh, oh I have a recipy for you.

I have only done it in the field but, Razor clams and chilli with Muriel mushrooms on pasta. I have pics knocking around of the last lot I did and man the smell was awsome but the taste was out of this world.
Last time i cooked it I replaced a crack of black pepper with a pinch per portion of wild mustard seed and my god dude seriously it works, the GF loves it and btw she uses you baked bean recipy all the time, but her little twist a fried duck egg on top makes it really special, she has plans for my birthday breakfast involving your beans this will be interesting.

 

[JonathanD]

Has Em's cooking really taken a turn for the worse? You seem bitter Jon

I'm sure she has.....other qualities

No, it's consistently bad.

Her other qualities eclipse anything life terminating that she can cook. It's why I haven't run for the hills. Anyone that takes joy from watching trees move in the breeze and badgers scratching their balls is a keeper in my book.

 

[British Red]

Works for me. Good food is easy to make after all - knocked up a couple of dozen fruit scones for BB today (to be had wiv home made jam and clotted cream naturally). Need some comfort food on these cooler days. Big chillis with the last of the tomatoes and this years garlic, peppers and beans are on the card too