Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness...

Autumn by Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527 - 1593 - renown for painting portraits with elements consisting entirely of fruit - courtesy of Wikipedia

The last few days of September are drifting away - our autumn firmly upon us, "seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness..." as pointed out by John Keats Esq. He's so right, the berries once more this year in masses in our hedgerows and gardens, fruit being dropped on the ground there's so much and the first mists arrived last week.

The pictures below represent just seven of the different types of berries found in my back garden an hour ago.

Yew tree fruit (which turns into an aril)

I was minded to a conversation I had a week or so ago with a colleague at work about summer and when it starts and finishes.

Rowan berries - the leaves turn a gorgeous fiery orange in late autumn

Where we are on the northern hemisphere of this planet, the meteorological autumn starts on the 1st of September, whilst those on the 'bottom half' of the world, it's their start of spring and it goes right through until the end of November. Gaelic traditions often consider autumn as August through to October.

Honeysuckle berries

But back to autumn or 'fall' if you are in America or Canada, we're a third through it already.  Before the 16th century, this time of the year was known as 'harvest' until people started to learn to read and write and then we started to use the old French word autumpne which became autumn in due course.

Pyracantha (orange coloured pomes) - the birds favourite, also found in red and yellows

I always thought 'fall' was a quaint word for autumn and my logic thought that it simply meant that it's when things started to fall off the trees, fruit and leaves etc., and in truth, it looks like that may be right with old Norse and German phrases being the likeliest candidates. We used to use it in Britain too apparently, but it gradually went out of use here.

Hypericum (St John's Wort)  fruit, this bush developed from seed dropped by a bird!

I guess my memories of my youth, sights, smells, occasions define what autumn means to me. I've already stated that berries and mists contribute, as does going to church with loads of food to donate to the old and needy in the community, home baked ornately decorated breads gracing the altar. In this part of the world, Hull Fair, Europe's second largest travelling fair arrives in the second week of October, as nights draw in, the first frosty mists arrive and the leaves are on the ground. Horse-chestnuts, baked potatoes, warm stews.

Cotoneaster, another bird seeded bush - related to the Pyracantha but without thorns!

The freshness of the air, the oranges and browns of the few leaves left on the trees, the occasional sunny day, warm enough for just a jumper during the middle of the day and the steam of your breath on the fresh cool evenings.

Varigated Holly (Ilex) berries

Some of the sunsets are a highlight for me, but getting wrapped up is a must - perhaps that's an age thing. And again we used the phrase - in the 'autumn of your life' and the parallels are obvious.


As a colleague and friend is keen on reminding me, only 88 days to Christmas!

Chat soon

ta-ra

Now or Then?

The sun sets on 2012

As 2012 draws to a close, I've heard a mixture of views about the year. Certainly a number of people have said it was their worst ever and 2013 needs to be a whole lot better. I wonder against what you judge a year's success or failure. 

I can imagine the loss of a loved one, redundancy, serious illness, divorce could be a hint that it's a year you'd rather forget, but on the other hand a successful year might be a marriage, a birth, a house move, a windfall of cash, a new job or an adventure you'll never forget.

The vast majority of my years for example are a mixture of emotions, some difficult times mixed with some good times. So how serious does the bad have to be to outweigh the good to dub it a year you'd rather forget? There's a whole lot of contradictory amateur and professional psychology about which talks about forgetting the past and look to the future only whilst others say the past has made you who you are and therefore how or why should you forget it. The past does shape us to become who we are today. But that doesn't mean to say we have to stay in that shape.

Some people bury the past because it's too painful to remember the traumas whilst others hang on the successes of the past and the pleasant memories. 

Perhaps this is too simple, but for me, the past can't be changed - success or trauma alike. It can't be erased and can't be changed to reinvent the outcome. It's just a spark of electricity in your brain, a piece of data stored away to come back and haunt you or delight you. Can we selectively forget, I suppose we can, but the memory is still there locked away somewhere and our character or behaviour is directly or indirectly affected by it one way of the other.

Ironically the future doesn't exist of course in any way shape or form. I guess we can influence immediate future events although this isn't entirely certain because events unknown or unexpected can come to bite us on the bum and scupper our plans very easily. 

So what do we know? Now. That's it, for certain, we know what we can see, hear and feel at this very moment in time. Many writers talk about the 'now' and how we should enjoy it for what it is, and if that's all we were able to concentrate on, living in this moment we call now will make the worries of the past disappear and the future isn't even a consideration. Of course this is more difficult that you can ever imagine, particularly in this modern and dynamic world and few people can concentrate hard enough to live in the 'now' for more than a few seconds or minutes.

This doesn't mean to say that we shouldn't give it a go, especially in times of stress or anxiety and one method could be meditation for example.

But before I go, I just want to mention a few people who have left us this year and passed on, none of which I have met and not even been particularly influenced by, but those I want to mention have given much pleasure and interest and have helped to pass the time now and then.

Singers Andy Williams and Robin Gibb, Davy Jones of the Monkees and musicians Dave Brubeck, Ravi Shankar and Hal David and actors Ernest Borgnine and Herbert Lom as well as writer, actor, director and stunning comedian, Eric Sykes. There have been others, writers, Kings, philosophers and astronauts as well as ordinary people who touch our hearts and senses in a whole host of ways. Gone but not forgotten.

As the New Year draws ever closer, I wish you and yours a safe, happy and successful 2013. 
 
Chat soon
Ta-ra.