Endings and Beginnings

End of the Season

End of the Season ©2012 Bo Mackison

Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle.  ~ Anna Quindlen

Life is about muddling through the middle. November is about endings and beginnings. The ending of autumn’s high season and the beginning of autumn’s low season.

Autumn, three months long, loses much of its easily seen glory after the first month. Autumn conjures scenes of flaming trees, crisp fall mornings which glide into warm sunny days, apple picking, pumpkin patching, harvest gathering. That is high season autumn, autumn in its glory.

Then the low season of autumn arrives. The generosity of the year’s gardens dwindles. Anything worth saving from the coming cold is saved.

The first hard frost crisps the hardiest plants, the cold holds them in icy suspension for a few hours, and their leaves droop, as if in a state of exhaustion. Plants crinkle, dry out.

The planters are emptied, plants pulled from their summer containers and dropped on the compost pile; gardens are trimmed – a few perennials are cut short and banked with mulch in preparation for the soon to fly snow. The taller ones, their seed heads dried and bountiful, remain standing, crowded one upon another for support.

For now, the garden is quiet, an empty space. Wait until autumn is in her last days. The seed heads of the cone flowers and sunflowers will be the birds’ favorite in late December when other feeders are empty and the ground is hidden in drifts of snow.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. In this month of many ending and as many beginnings, I will post iPhonography processed with the Snapseed application.

 

Hard Frost

Hard Frost

Hard Frost © 2011 Bo Mackison

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

This morning it was middle-of-the-night dark when I started my day at 6:00 am. I had plenty of time to get ready for the day, make coffee, meditate, and as I finished, I noticed that the eastern sky was getting a faint glow. Gradually just a hint of pink appeared, growing lighter.

I checked the thermometer — 25˚ F. Cold enough for a heavy frost. When there was enough light to see outside, yes indeed, there was a very heavy frost. I waited until the sun peeked over the houses to the east of my backyard before I grabbed my camera and went out to see what I could see.

And what did I see? Frost, lots of frost. Fallen leaves covered with tiny crystals. The garden still had a few flowers, the last ones of the season, covered with a delicate icy coating.

I took enough photographs of frost and leaves for half the photographers in Madison, and then I played in the leaves for a while. No, I didn’t roll in the leaves or jump in a pile of leaves as I did when I was a child. But I did have lots of enthusiasm as I kicked through the deep maple leaves, then watched to see how high they flew. Who knew that kicking piles of leaves was such good aerobic exercise, too!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo thinks everyone in the northern climes should do leaf kicking as an exercise for the next few weeks. So fun!

Frosted Seedhead – Morning in Owen Conservation Park

Seedheads with Bokeh at Owen Conservation Park in Madison, Wisconsin

Frosted Seedheads © 2010 Bo Mackison

Another photo from early morning in Wisconsin. Frost and mist give an extra bit of mood to a field of prairie flower seed heads.

Photographed at Owen Conservation Park in Madison, Wisconsin.