Category: Autumn

Autumn, Beautiful Places, National Parks, Nature

Beautiful Fall Foliage

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fall leaves

Some consider Autumn to be the most incredible time of the year. Gorgeous colors vibrantly encoring the end of summer as the trees put themselves to bed for the long sleep of winter. The Great Smoky Mountains floods with thousands upon thousands of annual visitors all hoping to achieve a breath taking view of the beautiful renaissance of nature.

The Smoky Mountains team has once again released their foliage prediction map, updated for 2017. The complex algorithm uses historical and forecasted precipitation and temperatures, as well as historical leaf peak and observational trends to predict when the trees will be at their most colorful. As each year passes, there’s more historical data to consider, and therefore, the predictions get more accurate.

This 2017 Fall Foliage Map is the ultimate visual planning guide to the annual progressive changing of the leaves. While no tool can be 100% accurate, this tool is meant to help travelers better time their trips to have the best opportunity of catching peak color each year.

Autumn, Mood Board, November, Simplicity, Uncategorized

Beautiful November

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Life has been a bit hectic lately so I’m channeling my new November attitude; simple and relaxed.

moodboard

November means ‘the ninth month’ so why is it actually the 11th month in the year? The calendar used in the Western world today is the Gregorian calendar. It came into being in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII accepted the system proposed by Aloysius Lilius. The original Roman year (from which both the Julian and Gregorian calendars are based) had only ten months and it was Numa Pompilius, a King of Rome around 700 BC, who added January (Januarius) and February (Februarius).

 

Autumn, Halloween, History, Photography

Beautiful Halloween

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All my life, I have loved Halloween. I’m calling it now:
Halloween, with all its tacky, kitschy goulishness, is the
best holiday. It’s a legit time for just  having some ol’ fashion
fun with pranks and mischief-making. Halloween is the only
time kids AND adults can be silly, juvenile idiots and get
away with it. And for those who are into a little history
here is an abbreviated version:

Today is All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween. The modern
holiday comes from an age-old tradition honoring the
supernatural blending of the world of the living and the
world of the dead. Halloween is based on a Celtic holiday
called Samhain. The festival marked the start of winter
and the last stage of the harvest, the slaughtering of
animals. It was believed that the dark of winter allowed
the spirits of the dead to transgress the borders of death
and haunt the living.

Eventually, Christian holidays developed at around the
same time. During the Middle Ages, November 1 became
known as All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day. The holiday
honored all of the Christian saints and martyrs. Medieval
religion taught that dead saints regularly interceded in the
affairs of the living. On All Saints’ Day, churches held masses
for the dead and put bones of the saints on display. The night
before this celebration of the holy dead became known as
All Hallows’ Eve. People baked soul cakes, which they would
set outside their house for the poor. They also lit bonfires and
set out lanterns carved out of turnips to keep the ghosts of
the dead away.
Credit: The Writer’s Almanac

I drove by this display of Halloween silliness yesterday and
made me stop and smile.
Happy Halloween, fall has officially begun.
hallo1 hallo2 hallo3

Autumn, Nature, Photography, Poetry

Beautiful Autumn

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Fall has arrived, oh how I already miss summer.
boots
fall
Beneath a yellow fading tree,
As red suns light thee, Autumn-morn,
In wildest rapture let me see
The sweets that most thy charms adorn.

O while my eye the landscape views,
What countless beauties are display’d;
What varied tints of nameless hues, —
Shades endless melting into shade.

A russet red the hazels gain,
As suited to their drear decline;
While maples brightest dress retain,
And in the gayest yellows shine.


From Autumn by John Clare
(from The Village Minstrel, 1821)

Autumn, Color, Color Yellow, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Texture

Beautiful Nature

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Random moments of natural beauty captured
by an iPhone.

wet leaves
Wet leaves, love the texture and color

wet leaf
I usually can’t achieve this kind of detail with an
iPhone, the lighting must have been perfect to
capture the water droplets

yellow leaves
The bright yellow and shadows caught my attention

hydrangia 2 hydrangia 1
Surprised to see hydrangeas in late fall.
Photo taken at twighlight

 

Abstract, Autumn, Capitol Hill Seattle, Film & Movies, Nature, Philosophy, Photography, Seattle

Beautiful Meditation

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Rest is something that can be captured as form
of meditation, or a day-dream, the idea of slowing
down and taking notice of the present, re-store,
a point of re-envisioning challenges
and looking at them with intent.

Rest isn’t only a stop, it’s a place on a journey.
An “intermission of labor, mental peace.”
That quiet stance of contemplation,
being in that place, a sentinel, an observant.

Rest, Respite.
Restore, renew.
To look again. To see anew.

harvard exit
Wall of the Harvard Exit Movie Theater
Capitol Hill, Seattle

photo
Greenlake at twilight

Autumn, Bathroom Design, Color, History, Interior Design, Nature, Photography, Trees

Beautiful Orange

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History of Chrome orange:

Chromium was the chameleon-like fruit of a Siberian mineral, called crocoite and discovered in the eighteenth century. The mineral is deep orange, a natural form of lead chromate. It was analysed in the late 1790s by the eminent French chemist Nicolas Louis Vauquelin, who identified the new element chromium as the source of the color. Vauquelin studied the compounds of chromium, and found that he could make bright yellow and rich orange versions of lead chromate, both of which he proposed as potential pigments. Chrome orange became the first pure orange pigment since the medieval use of realgar, a highly toxic compound of arsenic. The chromium colors did not become widespread, however, until the discovery of chromium-containing mineral deposits in France, USA and Britain. By replacing the lead in chrome yellow with other metals, such as zinc and strontium, the color could be tuned to paler or more acidic hues, such as ‘lemon yellow’.  Chrome orange was introduced as a pigment in 1809. The world production of chrome orange ceased few years ago.

orange1 orange 2 orange 3 orange 4 orange-interior-decor-living-room1 PANTONE-COLOR-OF-THE-YEAR-2012_TANGERINE-TANGO_ORANGE-INTERIORS_BELLE-MAISON-BLOG-2