Leaves from Oregon big-leaf maple trees. Big-leaf maples can turn pretty colors in the Fall, but usually are not as pretty as their Eastern maple cousins.
Fall sometimes is my favorite season. Often it rains here in the Fall too much, and usually the weather starts to turn colder, which isn't fun when one remembers the warm summer temperatures.
The leaves here will turn yellow and orange during a good Fall but sometimes here in Sea Town they fall from the trees too quickly due to rain.
But my birthday is in October, and so is one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. So Fall always has a magic quality to it.
Halloween season always means the stores have lots of pumpkins out front, for carving into jack o' lanterns, table decorations, and making pies.
This is the time of year I guess my Irish ancestry begins to take over, as Halloween is a Celtic holiday. In fact, it was the Celtic New Year. When Christianity took over the Celtic countries, the Catholic Church created two separate Christian holidays that more-or-less covered the Celtic New Year: All Saints Day (November 1st) and All Soul's Day (November 2nd). Some of the ancient customs from the Celtic holiday made their way into All Soul's Eve festivities (caroling for 'soul cakes', for example, slightly resembled modern trick or treating), and All Saint's Eve became Halloween.
My grandfather grew up in rural Northern Wisconsin, in farm and forest country. When he was young, the trick or treating on Halloween was more trick oriented. One time my grandfather and his friends took apart a farmer's wagon, and re-assembled it on the roof of the farmer's barn.
Anyway, this time of year I pull out my Celtic Fairy and Ghost story books, and read some folklore. William Butler Yeats produced a terrific book for anyone who may be interested in Irish fairy folklore. It's called "Fairy and Folk Tales Of the Irish Peasantry", and is available online at various prices (including free, as the book has apparently passed into public domain). It has numerous fairy folklore stories collected by Yeats, many of them written by him, and a handful of excellent fairy folklore poems written by Yeats and other Irish poets.
I usually re-read the Yeats fairy book this time of year.
I also tidy up the place, and get the decorations out for Halloween, and start preparing for the other holidays.
One of the last photos I took with my Fuji AX655 snapshot camera, which locked up a day or so after this photo was taken. This photo was taken in the morning -- later in the day it was a 70 degrees out.
But this time of year I also begin to miss the sun. But it will be around again in about five to six months.
The last photo I took with my Fuji AX655 before it locked up, on September 26th. It apparently doesn't like to be turned on or off with very weak batteries. The lens locked up so tight it would take a vise-grip to move it, and of course, that would break the camera. Now it is an SD card reader. :-) Other brands of cameras seem to have firmware to prevent this locking-up from happening -- hopefully. :-)
A lone maple tree lights up the otherwise green surroundings like a column of fire. Taken with my new Nikon Coolpix L32, which -- once you start using the 'Scene' button (which has all the light settings for the camera, and is very useful) -- is a great camera. So far.
Autumn leaves and some yellow and orange foliage along the Cedar River Trail earlier this week. Taken with my new Nikon Coolpix L32 snapshot camera, on its "Dusk/Dawn" setting.
Fall foliage around the Cedar River Trestle Frog Pond. When I first got this camera, I was unable to get good clear shots. Then I discovered the 'Scene' button, where the light settings are. This photo came out much better than I expected. Taken with the Nikon on "Dusk/Dawn" setting.
Soloppgang, October 6th, 2015. Taken with my Nikon L32.
One thing about Fall here in the NW is we often get nice sunrises. It must have something to do with the Fall cloud formations (i.e., more rain clouds in the sky). I was able to capture a couple of them with my new Nikon snapshot camera.
Soloppgang, Oct. 9th, 2015. Taken with the Nikon L32.
Aside from riding my bike, taking photos, and working, I have been still writing, and working out. Finally starting to reach the weight that I was pushing (bench presses) when I had to take a short break from it and start over again with better form. So I feel much better about that. It feels good to finally reach the point where I was in June, weight-wise.
I still have a few posts I promised about a month ago that I have to finish up and post here. I will probably dribble them out over the remainder of the year. There are quite a few pictures of Seattle I took over the Summer, some of which were really nice. It's just a matter of loading them up and making a post from them....
A shot of the Cedar River Trestle in the morning sun in early October. Taken with my Nikon Coolpix L32 snapshot camera.
A wooly-bear caterpillar crosses the Cedar River Trail next to a small cottonwood leaf. Like with our local big-leaf maple trees, during most Autumns our cottonwoods generally turn yellow and then hit the ground. :-( Taken with my Canon A520 snapshot camera.
Harbinger of Fall: One of the last night softball games of the Summer season. I caught this game on the evening of October 9th. Softball is fun to watch because nearly every hitter seems to hit the ball into the outfield.
I hope that those of you who are reading this are having a good Autumn (at least those in the Northern Hemisphere), and may your trees have many Fall colors. For those who celebrate Halloween, have a fun, safe one.
CC -- Oct. 15th, 2015.
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