The Times They are A-Changin'

The times they are a-changin' *
You can feel it in the air.

The summer's heat is fading,
As Fall arrives with flair.

To every thing there is a season,
With good things about each one,

But Fall ... in all its glory,
Is hard to be outdone.

(First line by Bob Dylan, rest of poem is by me)

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The times they are a-changin' ... those words are very appropriate for this time of year when Fall's coming arrival is reflected in everything around us. And there's something about the rite of passage from one season to another that inspires me with a feeling of "starting over with a clean slate," especially when it comes to decorating.

One of life's simplest pleasures for me is to decorate our home for each season, and this year I started with the Welsh Dresser in our breakfast area. I began by removing everything from the shelves ...

Then I made a trip to the attic and brought down all my "Fall decor" stuff, which included silk flowers and berries, stained gourds, and my "crock collection" ...

Here are the "after" pictures ...

I hope Fall is in the air where you live and you are enjoying decorating projects, too. Thanksgiving will be here before we know it!

Summer's End

I recently came across the lyrics to a song on a beautiful blog called, "The House in the Roses," which is written by a lovely lady named Cielo. If you haven't discovered Cielo's enchanting pictures and stories, I hope you will visit her magical House of Roses. I'm sure it will become one of your favorite places.

The song I mentioned is called Summer's Almost Over, and was written by Cheryl Wheeler. I'd like to share these beautiful lines ...

Summer's almost over and I'm crying but I don't know why,
Sentimental old fool, weeping for this blue, blue sky,
And the way the cat is sleeping and the way the garden grew,
Wagging dogs who lick my face and the way I feel for you.

Who could help but welcome autumn and the promise of the winter snow?
Still there's something sweet and wistful as I watch this lovely summer go,
But the sun is sinking sooner and the weeds have won at last,
With the berries on the bushes and the crickets in the grass,
Oh, summer's almost over and I'm crying but I don't know why.

Isn't that lovely! Thank you, Cielo, for letting me share it here at Southern Lagniappe.

I would also like to share a few pictures I took yesterday afternoon while walking around in our yard. I was thinking about the lyrics to that song, and found several signs that mark the passage of summer.

These are the last two lingering blossoms on our Crape Myrtle trees ...

Our Sasanquas are loaded with buds ...

They will look like this when they open:

I love the way this little rosebud's tip looks as if it's been "squashed." It's probably one of the last roses we'll have.

I think the faded rose pods are pretty, too ...

I captured these leaves on a Sycamore tree whose branches hang over our back fence.

They're almost as big as a dinner plate and are so pretty in the tree, but when they start falling in the flower beds, they're not so pretty.

I just happened to look into our cobalt gazing ball and couldn't resist capturing the reflection of an iron arbor in it.

I like this shot of the fleur-de-lis finial on the arbor, too.

I'm not sure what these shiny black berries are. They are growing on a vine in a tree behind our fence, and look like little glass marbles.

My lagniappe for the afternoon came in the form of this little emerald green chameleon who was playing on my glass butterfly feeder (you can click on the pictures to see him up close, if you'd like).

I bent over to photograph a fading Lantana bloom and captured a little bit of serendipity instead.

These little guys will be leaving soon.

Farewell, little hummers — Godspeed!

" ... There's something sweet and wistful
as I watch this lovely summer go."

First Day of Fall

Although today is officially the "First Day of Fall," it's not easy to get into the spirit of things when our Mississippi temperatures are still hovering near the 100-degree mark. It's hot and dusty, with no rain in the forecast for the next several days.

A couple of weeks ago, we had some cooler early morning temperatures, and there was, indeed, a hint of Fall in the air — just enough to inspire me to decorate our house to welcome its arrival — but, unfortunately, the cool temperatures didn't last long.

Hopefully, we'll see some changes in the weather in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, I'd like to commemorate this "First Day of Fall," by sharing a glimpse of what we have to look forward to here in Mississippi, when Fall really arrives for good.

I know and understand that "for everything there is a season," but I can't help but wish that these lingering days of summer would bid us farewell, so we can welcome our Fall season for real, instead of just "officially."

Last Roses of Summer

As the last days of summer dwindle away, teasing us with a hint of Fall in the air, sadly, the flowers of summer are slowly fading in intensity and in number. Yesterday, I noticed a few sweet little rosebuds lingering on a rose vine growing on an arbor over the path leading from our courtyard to our back yard. This is the way it looked in April ...

And here is a cluster of buds I captured with my camera yesterday.

This winter, they will remind me of the hot and humid summer days I've been whining about the past few weeks ... and will be wishing for in January.

I can't remember what kind of rose this is, but it has bloomed off and on all summer and smells heavenly.

Our Little Gem Magnolia blooms are dwindling, too, and they're mostly at the tips of the top branches, as if they're reaching for the fading warmth of the summer sun.

It's kind of sad to see summer slipping away, but "for every thing there is a season," and I plan to enjoy the Fall season to the fullest.