Monday 11 October 2010

October Bunting






October, the eighth month according to the Ancient Roman Calendar, always strikes me as slightly mad, the month that likes to go ‘over the top’. Just think of the balmy days of Indian Summer, the colours of the leaves, both as a shimmering, multi-coloured flame of light on the trees as well as a carpet of pure gold, bronze, red and orange underfoot. Think of the last heroic efforts of the garden to repay the gardener for all his hard work during the year; you will surely agree with me.






The ground underfoot and the late afternoon sky seem to be in a competition as to who can produce the most magnificent spectacle. The hues exactly complement each other, I feel like the filling in a sandwich of gold.




October holds on to the affirmation of life by giving us plentiful reasons for celebrating nature's bounty in the form of fairs and festivals.

After the September rains, the river is finally in spate again, carrying brown soil stolen from the fields and banks further upstream on its back. The generous flow keeps trees and bushes growing alongside  green and fresh for a little while longer. Even the river seems to want to join in the celebrations, the greens and browns and the silver sparkle of the rippling water add to the carnival of colours.






There is a flourish, an abundance, a fabulous cheerfulness and unashamed boastfulness about October that ill-prepares us for the reminder of death and decay that November brings.

But for now, we celebrate, the bunting is out.




29 comments:

  1. Gorgeous - you put into words my feeling about the joyful burst of colour that is October - my favorite month. The rain has stopped here, and while we have few reds, the golds and coppers are heavenly.

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  2. Mmmm... you could string that bunting round me any time you like! Glorious! :)

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  3. For the second time of trying...You can hang bunting like that all around me, anytime you like! (If my first attempt at saying this is merely delayed in appearing, I may be lucky enough to end up with two strings of bunting!!)

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  4. Beautiful photographs and a fitting tribute to this most colourful month.

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  5. I feel like the filling in a sandwich of gold. That was my favorite line in the midst of many other gorgeous descriptions.

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  6. Your appreciation of the overwhelming
    beauty that surrounds you, consumes you,
    is you, seems inexhaustible, inexorable.
    Hanging bunting indeed, in the air, on
    the porch, and in our hearts.
    Thanks again for a special Friko walk
    through gardens, blazing woods, flights
    of bunting, flags, pennants, fairs,
    and carnivals, to end with us dangling
    our bare feet in a river decorated with
    halloween dancing colors.

    I was ecstatic about your kaleidoscopic
    poet's filter laid over the gauze of gilded
    leaves and lovely dampness, so I
    reposted this over on my site;
    complete with the poetic line breaks
    you write in intuitively.

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  7. friko - what a beautiful series of pictures, opened out by your insightful and celebratory words. yesterday i rode through a blue and gold whirl of a world for three hours. there was almost nothing else but those two colours. it was a very pure magical experience. soon the world will move into grey scale and i'll long for even the slightest trace of colour but for now the feast is on!! steven

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  8. Really love all your photos. Isn't nature wonderful? Thanks for sharing.
    A x

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  9. Such colors! Your carpet of gold is wonderful! And those last leaves -- liquidamber? And your words are so evocative...

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  10. What a beautiful series of images and wonderful prose. I must stop bemoaning the end of summer. Look what I'm missing!

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  11. I think you might just have outdone yourself, Friko, m'dear.

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  12. love all the nature in this piece...i like nothing more than being out in it...especially this time of year with all the colors...wonderful pictures...and love the prose, esp arounf the river as i grew up on one...in the club now as well so will be seeing you soon...smiles.

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  13. Fabulous photos and I love the line about being the filling in a sandwich of gold. Masterly.

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  14. Your words enhance my October-Month which is what it is called here.
    October-Month. Gift Wrapped in crinkly giftpaper. Can I share the sandwich with you?
    XO
    WWW

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  15. Lovely, and so interesting to me that here, across the Atlantic, the season you describe exactly matches what we see here today.

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  16. Fabulous celebration of autumn - magnificent photos.

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  17. Your photos beckon to enter your colorful world. I love your idea that you are a filling in a sandwich of gold.

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  18. So beautiful! The photographs, and your words. That final bunting was tremendously lovely.

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  19. Wonderful photos especially liked the swollen river, full of promise and power. You so beautifully described a favorite season.
    Fall is such a grand reward for surviving a blistering summer.

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  20. What a lovely painting of October you have created. The words and photos were stupendous!

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  21. eine herrliche Beschreibung des herbstlichen Oktober mit wunderschönen Bildern!

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  22. I absolutely love all the ivy on people's houses that goes that bright red. I know it's supposed to be a pain to have it all over your walls, but it looks fab.

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  23. Wow, how beautifully you have illustrated your words with these golden pictures. I enjoyed all of it.

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  24. Great photos. I love the beauty and 'bunting' of October as well.

    Nature's signals are grand.

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  25. Breathtaking photos! Great writing, too.

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  26. Fabulous post, love the colors of your photographs as well as your imagery displayed in your words.

    Bunting is so wonderful!

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  27. Wow, what wonderful photos! Those colours are a real feast for the eyes, just breath taking! :-)

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  28. Your words are as pretty as the colours in the pictures of your post.

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