Along the road

 

The other day (Oct 13) I visited my friend who lives up on Little Rainbow Mountain. It's a dirt/gravel road winding along through beautiful trees.

Most of the trees are green still...that Rhododendron on the left bank will stay green throughout the winter.

Some colors were found, among the various homes (mainly vacation homes perhaps).

Today's quote:

If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like. -Soichiro Honda, industrialist (17 Nov 1906-1991)

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Seasonal changes

 

And so it begins, in a parking lot, no less.

Today's quote:

While it is not difficult to appreciate that large, powerful fliers such as geese, swans, cranes and even ducks and shorebirds can make intercontinental flights, it is not quite so easy to comprehend that this twice-yearly routine is also followed by small birds such as sparrows and finches. As for hummingbirds — such tiny scraps of life and tied to a lifestyle that requires frequent energy-rich meals — it seems inconceivable. . .  Rufus hummingbirds nesting along the southern coast of Alaska regularly spend the winter in Mexico, some 2,000 miles away: a few stay in the very south of Texas and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The calliope hummingbird travels much the same route and, at 0.1 ounce is the smallest long-distance migrant in the bird world.
        - Robert Burton, The World of the Hummingbird

As quoted in The Heron Dance Art Journal

Outside and inside for Autumn

 

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).

People say that the soul, on hearing the song of creation, entered the body, but in reality the soul was the song itself.

 —Hafiz

Driving through town

 A fun juxtaposition of a sweet sign (Hey Hey Cupcakes) and a earth moving vehicle being carted behind a flat-bed truck, making it look as if it's flying

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Everybody stops in the center of town, no matter which way you're going, it's just standard to expect about 2-3 minutes wait, or sometimes up to 6 minutes as the lights cycle through and pedestrians eventually get their chance to cross US 70 or NC 9, aka State St. and Montreat Rd.

When I got to my admittedly favorite restaurant with an order waiting for my take-out, there was this extraordinary vehicle parked there. I dare say it is a patron, rather than someone who works there! It's nice to think that people who run around in this money-absorbing gas-guzzler eat much the same food that I do.

The weather was just beautiful, our first day of fall. Here's the hidden Welcome to Black Mountain sign, with beautiful flowers at least!

I had stimulated my appetite by walking around Lake Tomahawk earlier with a friend. More on that in another post.

Through the woods

This post got eaten by my internet program, Firefox, earlier today.  I couldn't do a thing with it, even open it.  So here I am trying to start over again.  There are often these little surprises when we least expect them. 

The last of the leaves were falling last week...so I know the colors are gone here now. 

Quote for today:

In the time of your life, live — so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.

William Saroyan
The Time of Your Life

Sunshine through leaves

Translucent leaves sparkle in sunshine, especially against the deep shade of an evergreen.

Today's quote:

The more you sense the rareness and value of your own life, the more you realize that how you use it, how you manifest it, is all your responsibility. We face such a big task, so naturally we sit down for a while.

Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi

September begins

...again.  This is always my favorite month.  It starts with all the young people going back to school  When I was young, we waited till after Labor Day.

  So when school started here 2 weeks ago, and most everywhere by now, the children are already hunkered down with their new teachers and have finished their first homeworks.

Oct 16, 2011

I loved shopping for new school supplies.  I loved wearing new clothes for a few weeks.  I loved starting fresh in a new classroom, with new subjects and books and the feeling of NEWNESS.

Then the season outside the windows beckoned...with gorgeous days of cooler temperatures, lower humidity, and brighter sunshine.  That's before even the leaves started to change colors.

Oh my, fall is definitely my favorite season, a palette of gorgeous but transient colors.  Freshness.  Spicey.  I know it won't be till Mid-Oct that the leaf peepers come to North Carolina. I grew up in St. Louis, and I guess their fall colors are a bit earlier.  But I can smell the promise coming.

New.

Why do I see the season when the fields die back, and trees turn dormant, as the new season?  I just do.  It's seeing those branches again, old friends while walking in crunchy leaves underfoot.  Laughing with friends I hadn't seen all summer, back at school.  Smelling the first fire, which used to be a pile of leaves beside the curbs...now coming out of a chimney nearby.  Coolness says new to me, after all the sweaty humid days of summertime.

Welcome September.  The vivid season of change that I would miss terribly if I again lived in tropical weather. I am in love again.  With excitement, promises, anticipation, eagerness, dedicated to...?