Sunday 9 September 2012

To Autumn...

I know that spring is traditionally the time for being refreshed and motivated but for me it's autumn that really makes me feel energised. Maybe it's because I'm not very good in hot weather (not that we had much this year) and find myself running down to a snails pace in summer; but the onset of cooler, more mellow days always see the activity levels rise. I'm so much happier wrapping myself up against the elements and stomping through the woods or across the beach at this time of year, then coming home to a bowl of homemade soup - such bliss.

It fires my imagination too. Summer is barely gone and I'm shuffling the bead boxes around to bring the lovely earthy, spiced and mulled hues to the fore and of course, when you do that you just have to stop and make something...


 The perfect start to a Sunday morning! I hope the changing seasons bring energy and inspiration to you too.

 To Autumn
By John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
      For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
   Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
   Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
   Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
      Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
   Steady thy laden head across a brook;
   Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
      Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
   Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
   And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
   Among the river sallows, borne aloft
      Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
   Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
   The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
      And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Lesley

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful Autumn colors, I love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah Autumn my favorite time of the year. The temps here in Montgomery, AL are in the mid 80's today. That is a beautiful bracelet perfect for the cooler crisper Autumn weather.
    Therese

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beautiful bracelet, I love the autumn colours. Thanks for the poem, it reminds me when I learned it at school.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Autumn is my favorite season. I tend to wilt in the hot days of summer so the cooler temps are very welcome. And I love the turning leaves and fall colors.

    Your bracelet is gorgeous!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I too love the beauty of Autumn and am charged by it! Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. completely agree! much rather wrap up in a sweater then hunt down an A/C! Fall is my favorite time of year ... love the rich colors, the crisp air, and well pretty much everything about it! The colors you've pulled into this bracelet are gorgeous ... just my 'cup of tea.'

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yours & Keats' Autumn is more like a New Orleans winter - but I agree with that feeling. The oppressive heat we get here drains me, and when it starts getting cool and crisp I feel like a frisky puppy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. my pieces came today from you ... they are more beautiful then I imagined! I absolutely LOVE them :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is such a beautiful post - poem and your art! This truly is quite possibly the most beautiful bracelet I have ever seen - GORGEOUS!

    ReplyDelete

Don't be shy - join in with the gossip...