Autumn Colors? Time to Prepare for Winter!

Changing Leaves

https://hymnsandhome.com/about/ Changing Leaves © 2011 Bo Mackison

https://www.ztpackaging.com/ribbons-2/ Everything in life is speaking, is audible, is communicating in spite of its apparent silence.  ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

enter site In autumn, the colors of nature are what speak to me. They tell me to pay attention, remind me that what I saw yesterday or earlier this morning may well  disappear into nothingness by noon. Autumn is the ultimate reminder that nothing remains the same, that change is a constant, that though we may hold treasures in our hands today, tomorrow our hands may be empty.

https://thesentinelgroup.com/camp-lejeune/ Autumn is the season of preparation. While it is good to live in the moment, not ignoring today while waiting for tomorrow or next month or next year to be more worthy of our attention, it’s always wise to prepare for the coming change in weather.

https://www.52editions.com/absences/ Just as I prepare my exterior world for the change in seasons, I also find it necessary to prepare my interior world. I know from experience that if I am ready for the autumn and winter seasons, I can enjoy the beauty of the seasons more and fret less about the unpleasant aspects of the shorter, colder days. So in October I do my “winter is coming checklist” and then I don’t have to go out for supplies in bad weather or do without.

https://anthonynewmancamps.com/tennis-camps/ So what is on my getting ready for winter list? Things that make the coming of colder days less uncomfortable and more enjoyable:

  • I check my closet for my outdoor clothes, especially the ones I need quickly when I want to go on an outdoor shoot. Also the ones that always seem to get misplaced in March and never found. Where is my warmer raincoat, that sturdy umbrella, those waterproof boots for when November’s cold rains and sleet appear? And my heavyweight wool hiking socks. I also have a pair of very thin, very flexible gloves that I purchased a winter sports specialty store. I can wear these when the temps drop and still fully operate my camera. When I’m not shooting, I usually have a warmer pair of mittens over the lightweight gloves. While my camera can withstand cold temperatures and still function, my fingers cannot. I am a terrible photographer – impatient and cranky – when my fingers are cold, or frozen, or numb.
  • I pull out an old plastic container and fill it with spare winter items – several pairs of gloves and mittens, both thin and thick, a scarf, extra wool hiking socks, an old pair of sneakers, a sweater or sweatshirt. I add some packaged snack items – fruit sticks, granola bars, some bottled water. A plastic raincoat from the dollar store. Hand warmers that heat when taken out of their plastic packaging. Then I store it in my car. I am always happy to have this box when I need dry shoes and socks for the drive home, or when I’ve lingered too long in the country and I need a quick drink and snack. This is one thing I am very fussy about — I always make sure to refill my box when I use an item.
  • Then I check my kitchen pantry to make sure I have some quick warm-me-up, comfort foods. A few cans of soup, a fresh variety of tea bags, a couple of packages of hot chocolate mix for those really dreary days. And I check my supplies of oatmeal and brown sugar, too. As long as I have oatmeal, I know I can fix a warm satisfying meal in minutes. Yep, I’ve eaten oatmeal for supper many times after an afternoon photo session in the cold.
  • I make sure I have light bulbs in all the proper sizes and wattage. I want my rooms well-lit when it is dark and dreary outside. And I also know where my flashlights, extra batteries, and matches are.
  • Finally, I have my chimney inspected. I don’t need any surprises in November when I want to use my fireplace. And I check my supply of wood AND make sure no critters have decided to build their winter abode using my woodpile. There’s nothing finer than a roaring wood fire after a winter excursion, or even on a lazy Sunday afternoon when the most I’ve done that day is read the Sunday paper.

Get Ambien Prescription Online Those are the basics I do in October. Maybe you live in warmer climes, and need to adapt your list for your environment.Maybe winter doesn’t show up until December at your home, but I know better…

https://www.52editions.com/complaints/ See what happens when the leaves change colors? It triggers my winter preparation mode. Always a good thing when one lives in Wisconsin.

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follow url Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Sometimes she gets distracted, and writes long blog posts about preparing for the change in seasons. Hey, she has seen the snow fly in mid-October, and get deep and sloppy by Halloween. Better to be prepared… 🙂

Sunlit Milkweed Pod

Milkweed Pod

Milkweed Pod © 2011 Bo Mackison

By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.
~ Robert A. Heinlein

I wouldn’t be autumn without a photo session with a milkweed pod, recently split open, and spilling its many feathery light seeds into the world. Even as I was shooting, a light breeze picked up many of the seeds and sent them sailing into the sky.

I was lucky to be shooting early in the morning, when the winds had not yet turned strong and the morning sun rays illuminated the milk pods in its golden light.

Milkweed seeds are closely associated with my business name, Seeded Earth.

I began taking macro-photographs of the many autumn seeds in a nearby prairie in early October, 2007, and really took my first prolonged look at a few of the millions of seeds covering the earth. At the time I thought of how the earth was a “seeded earth”. When the time came to choose the name of my first blog, one in which I planned to feature a daily photograph of nature, the name “Seeded Earth Photography” came to mind.

Macro Milkweed Exploding Seeds

My First Milkweed Seed Photograph © 2007 Bo Mackison

This is one of the first photographs I took when I began my daily photography challenge in October, 2007. And that was the beginning of Seeded Earth Studio.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Red Maple and Early Morning Sun

Early Morning Sunlight on Red Maple

Red Maple and the Early Morning Sun

Turning toward the other side of light,
In a tower of wind, a tree idling in air,
Beyond my own echo,
Neither forward nor backward,
Unperplexed, in a place leading nowhere.

~ Theodore Roethke,  from “Journey to the Interior”

The last few mornings have been both ordinary and extra-ordinary.

This morning I was in my backyard watching the sunrise as I have done the past few days. The sun is hidden behind a large stand of trees, so I don’t see the sun as it peeks over the horizon. Instead I see the sun’s first light rays not in the sky, but as the light strikes the tops of trees  several blocks away from my home.

Then I wait about five minutes, and I am treated to one of nature’s finest gifts – and it takes place in my backyard.

I watch as the sun’s rays hit the very top of the red maple in my yard.

The maple has just begun to change colors, and the colors change from top to bottom. The maple reminds me of a giant green candle, and the candle’s flame? The red leaves flashing in the early morning sunlight.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She quickly pulled on a jacket and a warm hat to take photographs of the red maple in the early morning sun. Unfortunately, she went out wearing only socks on her feet, and had to come inside quickly because her feet were wet and cold.

Study in White

In White

Study in White © 2012 Bo Mackison

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hard to believe it is almost time to say goodbye to the month of September.  Soon the flowers will disappear from the gardens, but there will still be photographs to remind us of their beauty. It is easy to walk past a garden bursting with colors and textures, and never see an individual flower. But when the eye studies a single bloom, there is much to see. I love how all the simple parts join to give this flower a stunning visual presence.

I photographed this white flower, identity unknown, in early September at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison Wisconsin.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She has a backlog of floral photographs, so she will be sharing botanicals for many days to come.

A Photograph with a Story

Two Benches

Two Benches © 2011 Bo Mackison

Many of my photographs have a story.

This photograph of two benches — one near and in focus, one far away and blurry — it has a story.

I had a long conversation with an elderly gentleman just before I took this photograph.

Often I am so focused on the plants in the gardens, I don’t spend much time interacting with other visitors. We exchange smiles and hellos, and we go on our separate ways. But this man stopped me as I was setting up a photo, and asked if he could ask me some questions. Expecting questions about my camera or lenses, I nodded and continued to adjust my tripod.

“I saw you back there, sitting on the bricks in that garden. You were staring at the plants,” he stated.

This wasn’t the conversation I was expecting, but he was polite and he was wearing a tweed jacket in the 85˚ heat. I’m not sure why I think tweed jackets vouch for a gentleman’s conversation, but I do. I stopped and listened more carefully.

“So what were you doing? You weren’t resting. There was a bench right there. Not pulling weeds.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Most people your age, um, I mean no disrespect, but your generation, they don’t sit on the ground looking at eggplants.” He raised his eyebrows quizzically, and I laughed out loud as he “pulled a face” – the description my grandfather once used when describing the faces I made.

I agreed again. “No, not too many people study eggplants, sitting on the sidewalk. Grocery store’s more likely.”

“So were you praying or just looking mighty hard at that eggplant?” He thought a second, and said in a whisper, “Guess might be ’bout same thing.”

I smiled again. Seemed everything he said made me smile. I told him I was studying the way the leaves wound around some of the stems. I was looking at the way the sunlight cast leafy shadows on the plants and comparing the different shades of green with the rusty spots left by bugs of some sort.

“Thought you might be a real one.” He grinned at me as I frowned. “You know, a photographer. You ever take pictures of benches?”

I told him I enjoyed photographing benches, doors, paths, that sort of thing. Especially in gardens.

He nodded. Turned serious.

“I was sitting on that bench over there awhile, the one half under that tree.” I looked where he pointed. “I sit there some days, just sit and look. Talk to an old friend. Not out loud.” He cast his eyes toward the pavement. “That wouldn’t look right.”

 When his gaze returned to me, he saw the question in my eyes.

“He was a good friend of mine. We were in the Marines together, fought in the “Big One”. Enlisted together, got discharged together, came home to Madison together. Married, had kids, grandkids, huh, great-grandkids. All that.

“After we retired, we’d walk this garden, talk. It was quiet. We liked quiet. You go look. That bench, it’s a memorial to my friend. You might take a picture sometime.”

I asked if he wanted his photo taken on the bench. He shook his head.

I picked up my camera gear and walked over to the bench. I looked back, he nodded at me, did a quick salute, and walked away.

I sat down awhile, studied the bench, looked around, then I took a picture of his bench.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.