Project 365 day 311: A Day in Autumn

It will not always be like this,
The air windless, a few last
Leaves adding their decoration
To the trees' shoulders, braiding the cuffs
Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening

In the lawn's mirror. Having looked up
From the day's chores, pause a minute,
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.

R.S.Thomas, A Day in Autumn


Sunday was a gloriously golden autumn morning. After hanging the laundry outside, in the hope it might be half dry before dark, I wandered round the garden photographing details of seasonal changes for my monthly collage, though I've not yet had time to finish editing and assembling it. Moments like these have been keeping me going for a long time now. I liked the two photos I have extravagantly included as extras: I often joke about having spent over a year photographing weeds in my garden, and the ubiquitous groundsel, preparing to overrun my garden again next season, is looking particularly attractive here; and I've photographed the berberis in flower and leaf, so here are its tiny berries. However, I had read R.S.Thomas' poem just a couple of days before and wanted to share it here, so the golden leaves jumped out at me. 

It wasn't a very productive day. I was achey and tired, probably following yesterday's booster vaccination, and J was also very uncomfortable - any new cause of aches and pains always triggers a worsening of the physical discomforts she lives with all the time. Late in the evening I wrote a couple of paragraphs here, then, just as I finished the tags, my laptop swallowed it all up in a blue screen of death. It was almost midnight and I couldn't stay awake to do it again, so this is another back-blip. Today's will follow, though it may not be today.