The Seasons

The Seasons

Spring blossoms

have long since dropped

Summer has swelled 

and ripened

The colours of Autumn

have now fluttered to the earth

the bare limbs of Winter

have quietly
become more visible

and now encircle you 

in their misty embrace

To Everything There Is a Season

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.

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Autumn photo from Daughter #1

Winter from Fleetwood Mac album cover

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Early Autumn

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You can tell at night in bed, when you wake up wanting another cover that autumn is sneaking in. You can also tell when you can no longer paddle at sunset between 6 and 7 pm.
The day closes in very quickly here with no daylight savings. Fortunately our early autumn days are still in the 20-28*C range (72-88*F).

Walking this morning I noticed the abundant and varied bird life.

The multicoloured rainbow lorikeets were feasting
on the flowering gum trees.

My rainbow lorikeet is out of focus so
I have borrowed one from Colin Buckmaster at

http://www.freewebs.com/nagleroadaviaries/index.htm

All night long
listening to autumn winds
wandering in the mountains

Kawai Sora

And in particular I saw that one little woody patch
of casurinas, gums, ti trees and the odd cottonwood tree
adjacent to the river bank appeared to be a
favourite haunt of blackbirds and miners.

Without the dog I could get quite close and watch their antics.

The pair of very fat crows at the caravan park, where my walk detoured this morning, would not oblige and pose for me. They jumped about and argued over a remnant of garbage from the rubbish bin. Instead I have a group of crows courtesy of Korin Ogata, 1658-1716

Autumn has come
to the lonely cottage
buried in dense hop vines,
which no one visits

The Monk Eikei

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