john keats' "to autumn"

cold nights, misty mornings, warm afternoons all point to the gentle but perceptable movement of the season as autumn reveals itself gradually from parts to whole. a vine planted a few years ago by one of my neighbours has generously spread itself along the fence delineating the point at which our respective properties are divided. through the late spring and summer this vine grows quickly and has advanced in three years along an area fifty or more feet long and eight feet high. it's effect is to soften and hide the wooden boundary.

it's a funny thing that my neighbour has been more concerned that it is imposing on my property than he has been in recognizing the extraordinary generosity of his gift! particularly in the autumn when the leaves of this vine turn a glorious variety of colours. (click on the image to fill your screen with what i get to see every day!)

to accompany this picture, here are some luscious autumnal words by the english romantic poet john keats excerpted from his larger poem "to autumn" . . .

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-eaves 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.