The End Of Autumn…

Posted on October 23, 2019 by

31 Comments

Greetings everyone!  We are now at the end of autumn.  The trees now have that barren look.  Empty.  Cold.  Lonely.  It’s the time when the summer birds have gone, except for a few stragglers.  So it’s quiet in the forest. Nothing.  Clouds dominate the landscape.  Those empty branches swaying in the cold north wind.  Even the wind suddenly takes on a barren, cold feel.  The wind sounds so different now.20191021_100831

Walking through the forest now the cold bites.  It makes one shiver right down to the bones.  Those colorful leaves now lay scattered on the forest floor.  No longer colorful.  They have turned a dull brown.  A light mist fills the air.  The temperature is barely above freezing.  Walking through the forest, it is silent.  That late autumn scent is all around.  It’s a nice smell though.  This time of year is always so cold, cloudy and damp. It’s a lonely time walking through the forest.20191022_150255

Suddenly, the sound of a little squirrel.  There he is, scurrying through the leaves, looking.  He found his prize.  A big white pine cone.  Amazing that he can even carry that cone.  Over to a fallen tree he goes.  He sits and begins to break open the cone to retrieve those delicious seeds inside.  While watching him I notice a mushroom just a short distance away.  Still growing.  Thriving.  I keep walking.  Soon I see some more mushrooms.  Amazing really.IMG_9184

I move on once again.  I hear something so stop and listen.  Sure enough, not far away, a flock of chickadees and nuthatches.  Soon I am surrounded by them.  These little birds are so lively and cheerful.  The chickadees are singing their name, while the nuthatches are calling their classic “beep, beep”.  Always such great fun to watch these tiny birds.  They always bring such joy into a dull, cold day.  Now there is some in the spruce tree beside me.  So close.  If I had some sunflower seeds I’m sure they would come to my hand.

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Black capped chickadee on my hand.

I continue with my walk and not far along I stop once more.  Yes, I was right.  That familiar sound, almost like a tiny bell.  I look around carefully.  Ah, there’s one.  And another.  Two ruffed grouse.  Not easy to get close to these birds.  There they walk, dressed in their beautiful, different shades of brown.  They blend in well with their surroundings.  Suddenly the burst into flight!  Gone.  Grouse are like a small chicken.

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Red breasted nuthatch on my hand.

We are in that time of year that is so barren, cold and lonely.  But there is still much beauty and wonderful life around for us to enjoy.  We just need to look.  But usually we focus on the barren aspects, the negative.  We need to stop doing that and look on the positive aspects of each day.  I admit, it can be a little hard to do this time of year up here in the north.  Because it does get barren looking.  And it’s going to get worse.  But there is still beauty everywhere we look.  But we don’t usually look close enough.  Look for the beauty of each new day.  It’s there.  If we want to see it.

I did not actually go on this walk, I can’t walk like that just yet.  Still a lot of healing to go on this latest injury.  These are thoughts on a previous late autumn walk.  I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.

Category: Adventure, Advice, Autumn, Beauty, Cold, Country, Country Living, Country Pleasures, Fall, Forest, Little Things, Nature, Outdoors, Thoughts, Uncategorized, WalkingTags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

31 Comments on “The End Of Autumn…”

    • Thanks so much Ally! Glad you enjoyed that and thanks for the well wishes, much appreciated! Muffin is doing the smart thing, sleeping! What else to do when it’s cold and snowflakes coming down?😂😹 Have a great day!😁❄

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  5. Such a lovely “walk” Steve ! We still have some trees which are holding onto their colourful leaves…saw two huge flocks of geese today…sad to see them go…

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    • We still have about a dozen of our local geese still here, but they’ll be gone soon with those colder temps moving in next week. Thanks for reading, glad you liked it! Have a great evening!

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  6. Very detailed description of changing seasons. Winter is definitely near. We have had a couple of snowfalls already. Yesterday I saw maintenance staff raking up the leaves in the courtyard…. from the comfort of my living room window.

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    • Our temps are supposed to get colder next week, with daytime temps of -4 to -1 and a bit of light snow, so likely the start of winter for us. With all the moisture in the ground it would be could to get at least 25cm of snow to keep the frost from going too deep this winter. We had flurries all day, but it melted, the temp was 2. Thanks for reading Hilary! Enjoy your evening!😃😺🌙🌨

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  10. You are perfectly right! We need to look on the positive aspects of each day! The day may seem dull but when we look closer we can discover a lot of beautiful aspects of it 😊

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