Pennsylvania Farm Scene, Early September

A Study in Red, Gold, and Green

We've had our first few chilly mornings lately, and it's making me crazy happy. I am a lover of the autumn. It is perhaps my favorite season of all. The foliage colors that will arrive in the coming month in the northeastern U.S. must be seen to be believed.

The first few bits of coolness that arrive as summer nears its end awaken in me completely opposing desires: 1) I want to go, go, go! I want to explore. I want to DRIVE SOMEWHERE FAR and see it all, all, all!

And 2) I want to snug up under a soft, cozy blanket with a hot drink and a book and never go anywhere ever again. Yeah, try to live in the space that exists in the resolution of those two vectors!

The light was beautiful and golden, caressing everything it touched. And it was in the spirit of driving around to see it all, all, all, that I chose a back way to drive to work on this day. I had several stops in mind: first, the pretty little cemetery at Ross Church, at the juncture of Marengo and Gatesburg Roads; and second, Fairbrook Park, on Tadpole Road.

So I took a few pictures of the church, and the graveyard was as beautiful and peaceful as I had hoped. There was yellow in the trees that hadn't been there a week ago and I was thrilled down to my toes. The change is coming, the change is coming!

As I was driving down the church lane to get back to the main road (if you can even call it that), I spotted this farm across the road, sitting there looking absolutely glorious in the morning sun. So I just had to stop, and I snapped a few photos of it, thinking how right it is that when I was born, I landed here, in this beautiful place.

I have photographed this farm field once before, on a snowy January morning, on my way to a dentist appointment in Boalsburg. I remember calling this land a small paradise that time (and you may see that photo here). It is, to be sure; it really is.

I want to visit the world. The whole world! I really do. But this is where I will always live; and when I am done with my bones, it is where I will lay them down for the very last time, to go back to the dirt I was born from.

And one day this land will bloom with flowers grown from the dirt that is me. And the land will wear what is left of me like it wears these beautiful colors of corn, and grass, and tree.

And the butterflies will come along and eat the flowers, and finally, I will become part of them, and I will fly! Yes, I realize this is a very strange thing to say. And I almost didn't tell you. Does it surprise you to hear that the thought of all of this makes me very, very happy?

I was also thinking, as I took this photo, what a lovely study this scene was in red, gold, and green. I thought the words sounded musical to me as I said them in my brain, and as I arrived at work after my other quick stop, I realized why. I recognized them as lyrics from a famous 80s tune, the Culture Club's Karma Chameleon.   (Dance along if you like; I did!)

I know that song is quite possibly a strange song choice for this lovely view, but there you go! So I also wanted to pick a second song that talks more about how I feel in looking at this scene, and about the coming fall: about love, and heaven, and beauty, which is how I think of this fair land that is my home. So here is Donovan, with Wear Your Love Like Heaven.