Autumn

[mint]

When does this arrive for YOU wherever you might be?

For me, it's nothing to do with la rentrée, gosh, that was weeks ago when it was still boiling hot and I had to drag myself to the gym.  This year, particularly, when I haven't had a holiday or been anywhere, I just couldn't pyschologically accept that la rentrée means the start of everything again.  I thought, "but I haven't had a holiday, so how can it be la rentrée already?"  I was, not to put too fine a point on it, kna***d.

But now I feel it's autumn.  I have seen the signs in the last couple of days:  there are burrs on the dog's coat, the warmer duvet is on the bed, I put on a jacket to go out this afernoon, also tights, the temperature in the bedroom is under 20, the lights are on in the house and I dither about putting on my dressing-gown to have breakfast in the veranda.

When is it autumn in your neck of the woods?  Has it arrived, have there been mists and mellow fruitfulness or are you still basking in warmth? 

[YCCMB]

This year, autumn (a bit like summer, earlier in the piece) keeps showing signs of appearing, then it disappears again and we are having yet more late summer weather. Having just come back from a week away (in New York, where the weather was unseasonably hot and we had a week of temps in the low 30's and brilliant sunshine) the only sign of autumn here - and the one I would normally notice more - is the darker evenings. This year I'm more relaxed about them, though, because I've given up my evening job so I'm no longer going to work in the dark. Bliss, after over 10 years of "nights".

[idun]

Not that I ever felt that it was autumn on the 15th of August, but in my part of France, it was the date when the first signs, changes even which showed that the year was turning were most apparent, almost from one day to the next.

Leaves seemed to lack lustre and even start with the first tinges, the hint of  their shade changing towards their golden hue. The mornings somehow that bit cooler and the sky, well a different blue.

I love autumn best and then winter next best. Autumn really is the time when most of us feel tireder and I get great comfort from a warm hearth and a warm bed and I must not forget the nights turning in, when curtains (and shutters) can be closed early to keep the dark out. I cannot be doing with the gloom of dusk, no matter the hour of the day or evening.

Autumn has arrived here in NE England. It hasn't been cold yet, although it is on it's way. Love it.

[NormanH]

Bientôt nous plongerons dans les froides ténèbres;

Adieu, vive clarté de nos étés trop courts!

J'entends déjà tomber avec des chocs funèbres

Le bois retentissant sur le pavé des cours.

 

Tout l'hiver va rentrer dans mon être: colère,

Haine, frissons, horreur, labeur dur et forcé,

Et, comme le soleil dans son enfer polaire,

Mon coeur ne sera plus qu'un bloc rouge et glacé.

http://www.kalliope.org/en/digt.pl?longdid=baudel199907017

Set to Music by Fauré

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWZDfwtwOw4&html5=1

Though of course the Automne by fauré which is better known is to a totally different text:

Automne au ciel brumeux, aux horizons navrants.

Aux rapides couchants, aux aurores pâlies,

Je regarde couler, comme l'eau du torrent, Tes jours faits de mélancolie.

Sur l'aile des regrets mes esprits emportés,

-Comme s'il se pouvait que notre âge renaisse!-

Parcourent, en rêvant, les coteaux enchantés, Où jadis sourit ma jeunesse!

Je sens, au clair soleil du souvenir vainqueur,

Refleurir en bouquet les roses déliées,

Et monter à mes yeux des larmes, qu'en mon cœur, Mes vingt ans avaient oubliées!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnIu5CrVwg&html5=1

However in an inexplcable way the feeling I associate with Autumn is best summed up in another of Fauré's songs which on the

face of it has nothing to do with Autumn!

I also happen to think that this is one of the finest example of how to sing a French text (notoriously difficult to do) that

I have ever come across...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMoos40OKaw&html5=1mn

One last one. For those of us who sense that Autumn may be soon turning to Winter, this Leid by Brahms to a text by Ruckert

holds a wonderful sense of Longings stilled as the end approaches..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0U4LdHncds&html5=1

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

I think it arrived for me, today. Up until yesterday, we've had heat and humidity, and finally today that has broken and we have temperatures in the mid 60s. We've even turned the air conditioner off for the first time since May.

[mint]

Betty, it was great to hear about your New York stay.  I have never been there in the autumn but I do love the city.

The last time I was there was, alas, some time ago; in fact, thinking about it, it would have been a year or two before the Manhattan skyline was changed forever by 9/11 [:'(]

Whilst you were there, did you feel this American "shutdown" was in evidence everywhere?

Sad for Obama that his tenure will be dogged ever after by what is happening at the moment.

Norman, such lovely atmospheric links.  Autumn seems to be almost inevitably tinged with sadness, nostalgia, regret.  Perhaps only  idun would disagree!

My computer is on its last legs, so will you please post a link to Cécile Chaminades's Automne?  For violin, please, rather than a piano solo.

And for a bit of a light-hearted take on autumn, especially for franglaisphones:

http://p0st-scriptum.skyrock.com/524849562-Fruitaison-douce-La-sieste-assassinee-Philippe-Delerm.html

[YCCMB]

Sweets, the Government shutdown didn't really seem evident or affect us in any way. We visited the 9/11 memorial this time, as last time we were in New York, the memorial had only been open for a matter of weeks and we were unable to get in. That was a moving visit, and I did shed a tear. The memorial is extraordinary and a fitting tribute to the many victims. The new tower, No.1 World Trade Center, first of three to be constructed on or near the site, is now complete and towers over the memorial site and is, in its own way, breathtaking.

[Russethouse]

I'm current,ly in St Augustine, Florida, having driven down from Boston on the 95:...Massachusetts , Connecticut and New York were all showing signs of leaf change, very pretty...but further south nothing...Very humid here, and rain today too, but apparently Florida I's like that...it rains often, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for ten, still warm though...

Not much evidence of the Obama problems here either

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

Seen little evidence of Obama's fallout here too. In fact, had a very good week sales wise.

Getting cooler and cooler which is nice, Love this time of year.

[Pierre ZFP]

I hate this time of year.

It just reminds me of death and decay and don't even get me started on putting clocks back

Give me the Spring anytime, long evenings and everything bursting into life.

If I won big time on the Lotto, I would have a house in the Northern hemisphere and another in the Southern and never see Autumn or Winter again - unless I was going skiing of course [;-)]

 

[idun]

Me, I dislike the long days of summer. And I hate mornings all the year round, there is something singularly unfriendly about mornings, especially early mornings, apart from if one is on one's way home at dawn and off to bed[Www]

Good job we are all so different. [:D]

[NormanH]

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,

Je partirai

[Russethouse]

I like autumn, even though most deaths in my family have been this time of year.....it's just like nature taking a breath and having a rest before coping with winter and then the glories of spring....planting bulbs always makes me feel hopeful and optimistic....

[Gardengirl]

Autumn has arrived here in the Gard - I wore socks, shoes and long trousers this week.

[sueyh]

Yesterday, here in the Pas de Calais, it was 9 degrees all day and windy and rain.  Real bite of Autumn.  Hoping we might have a better weekend.

Suey

[mint]

I'm not sure whether we won't receive some warm spells before winter sets in; it's still October after all.  OH tells me that there is a cold wind blowing across the UK for the next few days.  So, sueyh, it could be that you, being so much nearer the UK than we are here, are getting the "benefit" of that wind?[geek][:)]

We seem to be perpetually on the borderline between 2 fronts, so our weather can be either one way or the other, between high- and low-pressure areas on any day.

We are not close enough to the sea to be oceanic and not far enough inland to be continental.  Makes for several changes of clothes a day sometimes.  BUT, today, I refuse to put on my thermals!

[Gardengirl]

We're having a lot of sunshine, but evenings and mornings are much cooler. We're very sheltered here, which is lovely on our balcony - we're still sitting out for lunch each day and supper some evenings. Just off for coffee out there - we're running late today; it's St Firmin's market and popping in to town took a long time.

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

We're in the middle of a noreaster here at present. Lots of rain and wind. Temperatures down to mid 50s. A far cry from the 80 degree humid weather we were getting a couple of days ago. Gone from having the air conditioner on to the heating on. It's crazy.

[Cendrillon]

"OH tells me that there is a cold wind blowing across the UK for the

next few days.  So, sueyh, it could be that you, being so much nearer

the UK than we are here, are getting the "benefit" of that wind?"

Sweets, yesterday we suddenly went from mild, slightly autumnal days to the bitter, cold wind of winter. Yes, here in S.E. England the wind was coming from the arctic . Today was O.K. this morning but torrential rain set in and I came home from a longish walk drenched to the bone. It's a wild, wet night out there I can hardly believe that two weeks ago we were walking the Camino in sweltering weather!

[Patf]

Autumn still hasn't arrived here, the grass and weeds are still growing [:@] No sign of autumn colours in the woods around us.

But evenings and nights are colder, nearly freezing last night.

[mint]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]

Sweets, yesterday we suddenly went from mild, slightly autumnal days to the bitter, cold wind of winter. Yes, here in S.E. England the wind was coming from the arctic . Today was O.K. this morning but torrential rain set in and I came home from a longish walk drenched to the bone. It's a wild, wet night out there I can hardly believe that two weeks ago we were walking the Camino in sweltering weather!
[/quote]

Cinders, how far along the Camino did you go this time?

I hope that I'm allowed to go off topic; it's my thread after all![:)]

[Cendrillon]

90kms  5 nights 6 days.  If it hadn't been such a scorcher of a week to begin with we would have done more.

Will email you later.[:)]

[andyh4]

Well autumn has arrived in the Northern Ardeche - 2 hours of snow - which did not settle here but did settle on the other side of the valley.

[mint]

No heatwave today in God's own country![:(]

Cold gusting wind for much of the day and heavy rain.  Then, late afternoon, the sun came out.  Took the dog for a walk but I had to wrap up well and, unlike yesterday, I succumbed to the first thermal vest (only a thin short sleeve) of the winter.

Thought I'd have a glass of Chardonnay to go with the slice of homity pie I made earlier and the damn wine was corked.  NOT my day.

So, someone tell me, can I use this wine for cooking?

[NormanH]

I always reckon that a wine that isn't right will still not be right in cooking...the flavour spoils the dish.

Others may disagree.