Where Autumn is Life's Sister...

This morning I asked Victoria to take a picture as a keepsake of the sacred commonplace...

Of countless times in our 34 years of marriage,

Jim realizing, he could arrange his route to come by the house

to grab a coffee and breakfast sandwich etc.

giving me a heads-up call when he is almost here so he can just pull over,

trade empty containers for full ones

and carry on with a thank-you and see you in a few days...

As I turned and looked at the yard, frigid with first snowflakes

 but clinging valiantly to its glow of gold

like Woman vainly gripping the fraying edges of the garb of middle age,

 the need for this poem of why I love Autumn so much,

 washed over me...

The woo of purple blue scarves draped on skyline filigree

The curb appeal of Today, caped in Autumn’s finery

The holiness of hunger no five-star meal can assuage

The happiness of wonder too epic for ink and page

The glory of the hilltop cascading its color-roar

Like an Artist’s tipped palette immersing the valley floor

The rush of season-splendor undulating, wave on wave

An orchestra of grandeur serenading the cold grave

As sweep of rain song clinches nature’s prey to gray archives

Gold leaves like drunken finches sail from trees in wild nose dives

The sorrow of surrender and its bittersweet relief

Time’s touch, so harsh, yet tender in the binding of the sheaf

The land, a grand portrayal of meager glimpses of He

Who overflows earth’s table with fringes of majesty

The bright October afternoon poured from welkin canteen

In a mirage-collage of June’s peppermint, misty green

July’s gold wheat fields rippling, August’s aquamarine sea

September’s orchards twinkling like glass jars of rosehip tea

The poet, as she grapples with time’s ever-ebbing swell

Of blossoms turned to apples, of hello turned to farewell

The sense of Something Sacred swirling, slipping, tripping by

An elfin ballerina twirling on a splash of sky

A sentimental molding of love’s carousel of crumbs

Of holding soon enfolding what all letting go becomes

An impression of moments caught like petals in an urn

Of girls becoming women in a world of no return

Of murmurs snared from summers sparkling like a bit of brook

Through pages filled with darkling pictures tucked into a book

Where autumn is Life’s sister walking through joy rife with grief

An empathetic whisper unraveling leaf by leaf

© Janet Martin

Autumn Aria

 

Overhead and underneath

Autumn spreads wreath over wreath

Wraps the shiver of earth’s eaves

In an ambience of leaves

Where vermilion lamplight flicks

On gazillion woodland wicks

Where the poet cannot snare

The full essence of the flare

For ink cannot catch the sigh

Of Autumn’s Leaf-Lullaby

Or the dance of sun and rain

Across landscape's counterpane

Or the sweeping surge of seas

Hidden by a verge of trees

Or the orchestra that slipped

From a stage that windsong stripped

© Janet Martin

An Enveloping Grandeur

 This day flew by in a flurry of beauty and duty...

spending as much time as possible outside on a perfect fall day!

Romans 1:20

 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—

his eternal power and divine nature—

have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

Neighbours cutting corn...

The hum of a harvester is one of my favorite fall tunes!

First grape harvest...at last!

(After years of waiting, eight grapes😅!!)

A striking chord of color takes the countryside by storm

Like an autumnal orchestra delighted to perform

What a terrific montage nature’s conductor untwists

Generous virtuoso of choirs and soloists

As planting season’s hope rings with harvest hymn’s crescendo

And fills heights, deeps and slopes with visual arpeggio

An enchanting ensemble of crimson, scarlet and gold

Ignites each woodland candle before it turns dark and cold

Where glory-hallelujah meets us from The Hand that gives

With beauty that depletes the poet’s pen of adjectives

And thankfulness is at a loss for words; the creature knows

That we are so unworthy of the goodness God bestows

A sacred exaltation is unfurled in autumn’s blaze

The wonders of creation never ceasing to amaze

Ah, how can we be quiet when the whole earth shouts His name

In an unrivaled riot of panoramas aflame

Where only fools do not join in, declaring ‘it is good’

God’s divine nature clearly seen and clearly understood

…where aspen halos shimmer like lampposts along the lane

Where silver poplars glimmer against backdrops blue with rain

Where hemlock, oak and mountain ash, willow and maple tree

Spill green and bronze and garnet splash to autumn’s symphony

Evoking in its splendor a most tender beckoning

An enveloping grandeur bidding everyone to sing

© Janet Martin

...and last but not least a big pan full of black beans!

I hope to try the above recipe tomorrow

substituting black beans for corn

Autumn...(or Awe-sum)

This year it seems like everyone is eager to deck the halls with boughs of holly very early!!

Personally, I prefer to revel in the tail-winds of Autumn for just a little longer...😊

Does it not stir within the heart a rush of rare delight

And rouse, with frameless works of art a nameless appetite

Does it not kindle thoughts of quilt-retreats and cups of tea

Where every leaf is like a little lilt of poetry

Where woodland wicks intensify, where wind-wild coursers dash

Until full-colour flickers lie in heaps of russet ash

Does it not bid our feet to slow, to linger by the fence

To revel in the afterglow of amber ambience

Does it not tug soul-strings to breaking points with Farewell’s Show?

Is it not like a hug that always brings the letting go?

Embodiment of Bittersweet, ah, does it not so seem

Where enchantment and want compete where life is but a dream

Ah, tell me are there any two syllables that can impress

Upon us such a surge of blue and brooding happiness

Ah, tell me in this four-season affair of yearly sum

Is there another word that can compare to thee, Autumn

© Janet Martin

Autumnal Eventide Aria

Twice (yesterday and today) this post wanted to be a morning poem

but by the time it was complete it is an autumn eventide poem/aria...

Enjoy! and forgive the 'stumbles'... 

Time’s trodden track of centuries bestows beneath our feet

Unbroken sod, uncharted seas, where man and morning meet...

Time’s trodden track of centuries bestows beneath our feet

Unbroken sod, uncharted seas, where man and morning meet

Life’s best and worst is blessed and cursed with universal need

Where pilgrims of hunger and thirst once more, by grace, proceed

Earth dons a burnished afterglow as woodland lamplight dims

As leaves, like freshly-fallen snow, lie silent ‘neath stark limbs

As day starts to unravel breath by breath its lathe unfurls

Thoroughfares left to travel, riddled with potholes and pearls

Life’s murmur of existence shimmers like a sun-tossed leaf

No measure of resistance can thwart Time’s four-season Chief

Where this day that the Lord has made, none can take credit for

Or blush beneath the accolades as dawn swings back its door

How reckless to suppose this speck of Being that we brave

Is nothing but a feckless trek from cradle to the grave

How reassuring to be held in love that knows no bounds

As centuries and seasons meld His changeless Word resounds

Time’s trodden track of centuries hinges to now and here

Where, like the banner of a breeze our footfalls disappear

Into autumnal eventide; a wafted wisp that weaves

Impressions of a countryside asleep beneath the leaves

© Janet Martin

Life’s murmur of existence shimmers like a sun-tossed leaf...

Into autumnal eventide; a wafted wisp that weaves

Impressions of a countryside asleep beneath the leaves...

Ode to October Almost Over

 

From morning's frost-gilt, mist-kissed filigree

To dusk's brusque, rusk-crisp tableau in what feels like no time at all!

Summer’s sanguine sparkle slumbers beneath autumn’s umber lull

Earth is steeped in muted murmurs siphoned from October’s hull

Hearts are always gently humbled when the world is full of fall

As the height of bloom is tumbled from its garden-pedestal

Jack Frost tweaks cheeks, ears and noses sparking poem-wanderlust

Canvas of daybreak exposes vistas etched in diamond-dust

Where a carousel of hours twirls the morning round and round

Like a sky full of leaf-flowers, moments flutter to the ground

While Duty tries to amaze us by granting backdrops of fall

And beauty drives us half-crazy by the wonder of it all

Camera lens never quite captures the majestic magnitude

Or the aura that enraptures as autumn dusk is subdued

Where, framed by the fading tincture on a page of history

We try to preserve its picture to relive in poetry

© Janet Martin

October (and a foodie finish!)

 Blushing hydrangea where autumn frosts flirt...

Shiny red apple for dinner dessert...

Blushing hydrangea where autumn frosts flirt

Shiny red apple for dinner dessert

Sassy wind sashaying through grand ballrooms

Scattered with tatters from lofty-tree looms

Landscapes, rain-glossy run slightly awry

With watercolors unfurled from the sky

Summer’s orange embers twixt plowed furrows glow

Warming our spirits on hearths primed for snow

One day soft kitten-like purrs kiss our cheeks

The next day mittens where b-r-r-risker breeze tweaks

Bronze burnished ambience startled with white

Maple-tree halos soft-doffed overnight

Hunger is teased and appeased thoroughly

Fresh from the oven or garden or tree

Gathered with humble and thankful hurrah

For autumn’s opulent cornucopia

Cooks in a quandary of pure delight

At endless options for dinner tonight

Cattails like sentry in russet wool coats

Puddles like miniature lakes full of boats

Wishes like milkweed-silk bursting from seams

Flashes of silver on backdrop of dreams

South-facing backyards like sudden sun-spas

Woodlands like grandstands of fading applause

October blazes with glory of fall

Capturing gazes where vistas enthrall

Making hearts ever so happy and sad

World full of wonder driving poets mad

Reasoning ruffled by fading veneers

Leaf-song turned into a trickle of tears

October offers a bount’ous buffet

So much to sample from its ample tray

So much to savour with eyes-ears-nose-mouth

Flavors and colors, east, west, north and south

October shimmers and glimmers until

Each candle is snuffed on Autumn's windowsill

© Janet Martin

Cooks in a quandary of pure delight

At endless options for dinner tonight...

I love this kind of quandary!😊 

I was torn between homemade pizza to use some of the last

of fresh garden peppers, onions etc.

I am also craving cabbage rolls

and squash apple bake, but as I rooted through the fridge

to make sure there wasn't some forgotten vittles, sure enough,

I found some pulled pork which needed to be used

so I made a

Pulled Pork Calzone.

The dough was a wad I had frozen from a previous pizza dough batch 

so ended up being not quite as puffy as fresh dough would be.

Spread dough on baking stone or pan

Layer filling down the center;

pulled pork, chopped onion, peppers, parsley and shredded mozz. cheese.

bring ends together in the middle and pinch

then flip over so seam is on the bottom 

Score top if desired

Bake at 375 or 400 for approx. 30 min.

Let cool slightly and serve.

Perfect with a side of coleslaw!😋

This coleslaw consisted of chopped green cabbage, red onion,

chopped green peppers, toasted flax and sunflower seeds with soy dressing

Soy Dressing

shake soy sauce, your choice of vinegar, (white, apple-cider, balsamic etc.)

black pepper, desired amount of sweetness

in honey or white sugar, after well blended add oil. 

Shake, shake, shake, pour YUM!

all amounts eye-balled😐

Dessert if needed will be an apple!

no room right now😛

Autumn Awe-frames

 

autumn keeps swiveling our heads

and slowing our feet

and snuffing want-lists 'neath the tread

of beauty, bittersweet

autumn mellows landscapes and pleas

as woodland bows/boughs untwist

a color-burst of symphonies

that melt like morning mist

autumn is like a painter's gift

each tree a pedestal

showcasing works of art that drift

down petal by petal

autumn enhances ways we trod

with backdrops blue and gold

*where duty serves its honoured squad

with wonders to behold

autumn unravels foliage-fronds

and from its lisle weaves

with tatters from a loom of wands

a counterpane of leaves

© Janet Martin

* my brother and his wife must leave the joys of farming and home-making duties

to other hands as they spend all the time they can with their daughter who is hospitalized

after being injured in an accident last weekend.

She is progressing well but healing simply takes time/patience!

We are excited to see what this week brings in this journey.

but it makes we who are blessed to be able to perform our duties feel

like part of an honoured squad, does it not?!!

With a morning like this my head feels like its on a swivel,

photo-opps everywhere!