September. I love this month. I used to love it for different reasons than I do now. When I was a kid, I loved it because it was "back to school" month and the month of my birthday. These days, school starts in August most places and when you get to be my age, you don't get quite as excited about your birthday anymore. I love it now because it is the month that ushers in my favorite season...fall. I mean, I'm very grateful the Lord has given me another year but I don't need anything more than a mirror to remind myself how old mature I am getting.
And as I think back about starting back to school when I was a little girl, an image comes to mind of something I haven't seen for years. I was reminded of this over the weekend as I was photographing the beautiful goldenrod that is currently taking over the country sides. How many of my more "mature" friends ever used one of these in first or second grade?
And speaking of goldenrod, it is just so beautiful and I never even realized it until this year. I love it that as I have gotten...ehem...more mature, I have come to appreciate the beauty in the simplest things.
I was blessed with the opportunity to go out last weekend to a lovely nature preserve in Fancy Gap, near our cabin. The hubs was napping after mowing the grass (that was nearly mid-calf in height, which wore him out a bit) so I drove a few miles down the road to where it was located. It was a perfect day...cool and breezy with bright blue skies and puffy clouds.
The area is called Devil's Den because of some old and treacherous caves that can be explored.
I actually hesitate calling it anything remotely related to the devil...
...because it is a heavenly place to be sure.
The preserve consists of 280 aces of private unspoiled land on the crest of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, with a beautiful view overlooking the North Carolina Piedmont. Here is Wikipedia's definition of escarpment: An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations. Hmm...you learn something new everyday!
On top of it lies this lovely slice of heaven. There is a bench planted in the ground (so as not to tumble over and fall down over the drop off) to sit and enjoy the beautiful view. I sat there quite a while just breathing in all of the glory of this place. All I could hear was the breeze gently blowing which sounded a lot like God telling me how much He loved me.
The preserve also includes birding and wildlife nature trails,
and this lovely meadow where the tall grasses had just recently been mowed and baled.
There's just something I love about hay bales.
I walked and walked, all around the perimeter...
...the tell-tale images of left-overs from the summer were so evident.
I normally don't like Japanese beetles at all...
...but these guys took my eye as I was struck by their lovely iridescent coverings.
What do you suppose they are doing....hmm?
Strolling along a little further and as I gazed down the hillside, I spotted the old homestead that was built back in the 1880's. The first and only other time I had been here, the old house was off limits to the public and there was a fence of some sort built around it. Today I was able to walk right down to it and gaze into the windows....
...if only they hadn't been boarded up.
Can you just imagine the stories this old house could tell if it could talk?
I could have stayed there for hours...not another soul did I see except for some butterflies and a couple of lovely gold finches who flew away before I could get a shot with my camera...but I don't think they actually count as souls, do they?
It was time to head back before my hubby thought I had gotten kidnapped or something so back down the road to the cabin I went. Before I could make it home, the goldenrod had beckoned me once again. I couldn't resist getting another few photos.
Aha...I see someone else likes goldenrod too!
It was a splendid way to spend an afternoon in September!
I leave you with this lovely poem.
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September
by Helen Hunt Jackson
(1830-1885)
The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook.
From dewy lanes at morning
the grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.
By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.
But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.
‘T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.
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