As promised here are a selection of photos I took whilst out walking near to my house of the autumn colours. There seem to be a lot of yellows this year. You can see all of the photographs here on my flickr page. You can compare the pictures I took this year to ones I took on the same walk exactly a year ago here. There did seem to be more oranges and reds on show last year at this time. I think next week will be the real show stopper of a week for colour, as long as we don't have any high winds to blow away the leaves!
The woodland I walk through is called the Millennium wood and was only planted a few decades ago. I am so glad that it was planted because now 15 years into this millennia it is looking stunning! As I walked yesterday afternoon I was passed by very few people in the woods, I had passed a few dog walkers on the path to the woodland but once in the woods it was just me. I could hear squirrels scampering in the trees but none would actually pose for a photo! There was lovely bird song from the mournful robin and thrush. It was a lovely magical half hour.
I have always liked to think of the trees as being alive like the Ents are in the Lord of the Rings. Usually they are sleepy, content to just watch the world go by. But at this time of year I imagine the trees having one last lease of energy before the go into hibernation for the winter. The bright colours are their party gear. I imagine the trees dancing, their scarlet and fiery leaves like wild costumes and hair streaming behind them as they dance! I do have a rather active imagination. There was one beautiful tree near to my flat in Catford and every autumn I waited for it to be transformed. It's leaves would turn a coppery orange, contrasting with it's almost black bark. I would imagine it as a witch come to life as a tree, full of energy and power. Her branches like fingers waiting to snare unsuspecting people as they walked below her! I loved that witch tree. It stood outside the news agents next to the Chinese take away, quite mundane but extraordinary.
Talking of the landscape transformed made me think of this poem I wrote on the train to Inverness in 2013.
Highland Goddess
I spring from mountain side to mountain side
My feet are bare, my ankles ringed with bells,
I dance to the bang of a tambourine,
Pushing aside, with my hands, the clouds.
Agile giant dressed in deepest green
Hair like autumn leaves,
The sun slants like a disco beam
Illuminates my limbs,
I cavort with grace and strength
Swirling and swooping
Rising and stooping,
Shaping the seasons, moulding their mood.
Once you have seen me dance
You will be filled with joy,
And like the girl in those red shoes
Or the children seeing that pied piper pipe,
You will have to follow me,
You will have to dance like me,
The kaleidoscopic rainbow maker
The Goddess sized booty shaker!
On finding that poem I also stumbled across this one written at the same time:
Soft sigh of green
Rain drops on leaves
The shiver and quiver
Of trees in this weather
A silk wash world
Colours bleeding and seeping
Of sea scape and hillside
Forest and farm land
Ringing with rain
And brimming with life.
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