BS: Signs of Autumn

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Sep 20 - 01:25 PM

The real sign of Autumn for me is when my plastic (lidded) glass of water on my bedside table remains cool all night.. that is when subsidiary signs appear in the form of a down comforter, long sleeved undershirt, and old socks filled with rice and microwaved come down from storage.
   No serious color change in foliage yet, but nights in the 40s are a warning. We are supposed to have a *heat wave* of a week in the low 80s now... but the comforter and 'warmy bags' of rice stay where they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Sep 20 - 10:45 AM

Fuzzy socks indeed rule. I put on my Thor-Lo padded hiking socks for the first time on Saturday, just before starting up the furnace for the first time since April.

No, I tell a lie -- we had it on for a week in May, when an untimely snowstorm somewhat discombobulated us.

The Canada geese were practising flotilla manoeuvres on the lake yesterday while half of Stratford strolled the paths, eating their last ice-creams of the season. The mallard drakes are in their eclipse plumage, ready to fly south when the time comes, but both they and the geese are quite capable of staying the winter if they can find open water.

I'm not sure what can look sadder than a duck on the ice in January, but I see them every year.

The maples that go red are now all doing so, and every lawn in this very garden-proud town is speckled with yellowed birch leaves. Raking and sweeping will soon resume, and the arsehole who lives up the road will bring out his damnable leaf-blower.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Sep 20 - 12:11 PM

The idea of corduroy underwear is entertaining.

Newsflash: corduroy pillowcases are making headlines!

Fuzzy socks still rule, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Senoufou
Date: 20 Sep 20 - 04:18 AM

People grow pampas grass here in UK, but it's a tricky and invasive plant. It goes crazy and is very difficult to remove. Sometimes it needs a tractor and a cable to pull the roots out of the ground, but it often comes back yet again!
A while back there was a daft thing going round about pampas grass. It was said that couples deliberately grew it in their front gardens to announce that they were up for 'swinging' (ie having other couples round for sex sessions, swapping partners) Ridiculous! (Husband just said "Hmmm..." Wonder what he means?)
Everyone's planting Spring bulbs here in the village. I've got eight tubs to get sorted, and today we're going off to Bawdeswell (nearby village) to get early daffodils, miniature tulips, irises and narcissi, plus two big bags of MiracleGro compost (husband is very strong and will lift those into the car for me)

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Naemanson
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 09:25 PM

Believe it or not we have signs of autumn here in Guam. The other day Wakana and I drove over to Agat for water and Thai food (takeout of course) when we saw that the pampas grass has flowered. Pampas grass is very tall and grows thickly on the inland open ground. It has white tufts that wave in the wind. From across the valley clumps of the grass look like snow. They flower in the autumn and the spring.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 06:08 PM

That's really interesting Jos. To 'conk' means to bash, and conk also means ones nose. Years ago, the playground was swarming with conker players swinging away with their prize conkers. Some had boiled them in vinegar to harden them (cheats!) and if ones conker had smashed six others it was called a 'sixer' and so on.
Such a shame that this traditional, seasonal game is now banned. I don't remember any child being injured in the past.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Jos
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 03:52 PM

In one of Mary Webb's books, maybe "Precious Bane", conkers was played with snail shells. Perhaps the word "conkers" comes from "conches", which are, of course, shells.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Senoufou
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 02:40 PM

When I was a girl (late forties!) from autumn onwards we wore 'trews', made from thick woollen tartan material. You're quite right, adult women wore 'slacks'. Our pants ('bloomers') were nearly down to our knees, thick material with a fleecy underside. Our 'chilprufe' vests were woollen with a string that tied round the neck. I had a 'liberty bodice' too, for attaching my kilt. I must sound almost Victorian!
Sorry about this 'too much information' and thread drift...
The acorns, conkers, hips and haws are amazingly abundant this year.
Schools now have banned children from playing conkers (horse chestnut on a string) in case the little darlings get injured. Snowflake generation!

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Jos
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 02:31 PM

Back when I was a child, women (aunts, and female friends of my parents) wore "slacks", with a zip on the left-hand side.
When I was a teenager, we used to buy jeans (which had a zip at the back, for some unknown reason), put them on back to front and then lie in the bath in them for a while until they moulded themselves to the wearer's shape.
None of the trousers, jeans, etc. that I now own has a zip anywhere but at the front. Some of them button left over right, some of them right over left. I heard somewhere that men's coats button left over right so that they can grasp their swords more easily if they need to defend themselves (or defend some unfortunate woman), but that is hardly relevant now.

None of my clothes smell of mothballs.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 02:08 PM

As far as the pants/trousers issue, we ROTC cadets were informed by our training sergeant that women wore pants and men wore trousers.

One sign of autumn that on one has mentioned is the smell of mothballs as the winter clothing is taken out of wherever it has been stored.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 01:10 PM

Hee hee Mrrzy, I hope you mean 'corduroy trousers' because I can't imagine anyone wearing corduroy PANTS!
(Don't worry, I know that's the word Americans use for trousers!)

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 12:32 PM

But corduroy pants are noisy.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 05:23 PM

Corduroy shirts, anyone? I just bought two of them.

Winter is coming? Bring it on!

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 11:31 AM

***I LOVE FALL CLOTHES***

Velour. Flannel. More velour. Other flannel. Aaaahhhhhh.

And socks. Did I mention tiedyed bamboo socks? Yeah, socks.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Jos
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 07:12 AM

Lots of shiny conkers under my horse chestnut tree - the tree that grew from a conker the children had played conkers with. I know because when I first found it growing it was just a seedling with, at its base, the remains of a conker and a piece of string with a knot tied in it.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 01:40 PM

Bonzo3legs is correct:
the squirrels hereabouts scarcely know
which tree to forage beneath first,
so many acorns are falling.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 08:32 AM

Senoufou, what you need is a house bat.

But yeah, phobias are what they are.

Socks made their first appearance on my feet last night, and long comfy pants rather than shorts went on when I got home. Tiedyed socks. Tiedyed bamboo socks. I love my socks.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 10:24 PM

2 weeks ago, 90F and days of serious rain and humid nights... right now as I type, 54F and no rain for several days and prediction of below 50F in daytime next week. I think I will remove 2 of the 4 window AC units and light the pilot on the furnace.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 09:45 PM

People in my building are complaining about how
there is no heat in their bathrooms when
they shower in the morning ...

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 11:54 AM

SPIDERS!!!!GAAAGH!!!
They're coming indoors (as they always do at this time of year, looking for a snug place to overwinter) The days are still warm (today was hot) so we have to have the windows open, and the evil buggers creep in and find a corner.
Yesterday, very early, I toddled into the bathroom and an absolutely massive you-know-what was in the washbasin. They drop in to baths or basins and the shiny surface means they can't get out.
It was HUGE, about the size of a saucer, a strange pale-grey colour, not any of the British species I could recognise. I think it was Morris dancing in clogs and winking at me with an evil grin on its face.
Of course, with my phobia, I screamed the house down, and husband came galloping through to save me. He gently picks them up (shudder) and pops them outside.
I dread the autumn because of this phenomenon. So stupid of me, but a phobia is a phobia.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 10:26 AM

In Stratford, Ontario, we are seeing condensation on the windows and dew in the grass, a few leaves turning colour (but not many), and the cats snuggling up more consistently, both with us and with each other. For the first time in weeks, I had both cats holding me down throughout breakfast and the newspapers, and they would be there still if Watson had not planted his hind claws in my bare ankle.

Also, we're back to open curtains during the day and closed curtains at night.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 09:08 AM

Ah, the first morning of "It is too cold to get out of bed to fetch an extra blanket" delight...

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 08:44 AM

The days of lounging in skivies have passed
The temperature is falling and fast
If I didn't know that soon there'll be snow
I'd prob'ly freeze off my ass.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 08:18 AM

On the tallest hill for 20 miles
Thousands and thousands of birds
All sit side by side
on the same wire.
I bet they're
talking about
an upcoming
trip

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 08:09 AM

Acorns dropping on my head is a good sign of autumn!

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 08:06 PM

Autumn soundtrack from foggy morn to crispy nights

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 07:40 PM

W have warm weather coming up but it looks like autumn in the environs of my garden because of a horrid resurgence of Dutch elm disease. It used to be one or two trees every year, but in the last couple of months we've lost five or six trees.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 12:25 PM

In southwestern Massachusetts,
the maple leaves are turning from green to orange.

We have yet to have an overnight freeze
(which would mean death to mosquitoes amongst other varmints)
but the nights are cooling down.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Nov 19 - 06:59 AM

Winter arrived in Perth County, Ontario, at about 2200 hours last night, with howling winds and a sudden drop in temperature. It had been raining for three days straight, and now we have snow.

It’s still blowing a gale. F***.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Nov 19 - 06:51 AM

You see the leaves of trees in DC are now past peak

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 31 Oct 19 - 04:30 PM

There are going to be, when the sun comes up tomorrow,
a lot of stripped-bare trees
and a MESS of wet fallen leaves beneath.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Oct 19 - 10:59 AM

We had about a week of autumn before it shifted straight into winter. And I was working on a deadline that didn't give me time to do some of the outdoor work I needed during that week. Bummer.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Oct 19 - 09:47 AM

Time to switch to snow tires.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Oct 19 - 11:05 AM

If you buy it now it will turn by christmas. I like the one that tastes like Jack Daniels

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Oct 19 - 10:59 AM

I love eggnog. But it's about 1,000,000 calories per fluid ounce. So this year, it's eggNOT.

I visited my cousin in upstate NY last weekend, and we drove towards Canada on the Northway. She'd lived on Whiteface Mountain as a kid, and was quite familiar with the Lake George area.
The trees had moved from the yellow-peachy-red phase into various shades of brown, contrasted by evergreens. Like this (View of Schroon Mountain, Essex County, New York, After a Storm, by Thomas Cole)

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 Oct 19 - 10:19 AM

As of yesterday (though it probably happened before then), EGGNOG is in the dairy case at Market Basket.

Sigh, that's more of a sign that Autumn is over and the "holiday" (Hallowe'en, US Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's) has begun.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 07:11 PM

Old wood instruments crack if heat is turned off when it reaches 30-40F.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 04:28 PM

I got nuttin..it was 85* yesterday. That is almost 30* to you Europeans...

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 03:53 PM

... old instruments ... ?


Bare trees visible now,
amongst the finally flaming-to-life colors
of maples and oaks.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Oct 19 - 01:39 PM

You don't have any old instruments do you.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Oct 19 - 01:34 PM

I do wish that the heat would come on.
My building however is brick, and keeps the heat in,
such heat as there is, well enough.
Changed quilts/coverlets this season,
letting go of the impossibly heavy quilt
for one that is lighter-weight
with a woolen blanket layered beneath.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Oct 19 - 04:31 PM

Its time to keep the car in AWD. Wet leaves are slippery.
In 48 hours some trees went from a small change to a total color change. Acorns are raining down on their own. Bare branches are common by Thanksgiving in DC. Red holly berries are resplendent and the jewel berries are sapphire blue.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Oct 19 - 04:02 PM

And one year later ...
the recent nor'easter storm in the NE United States
relieved the trees of many many leaves.
Not to say that the trees are bare, mind you.

There will be many more fallen leaves before it's all over;
but right now
the dead leaves are piling up for the first time this year.

And if/when it rains again,
then we get that street mush
that results from wet sodden fallen leaves.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Sep 18 - 07:22 PM

Apples, anybody?

What kinds of apples are ripening for the harvest
where you live?

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Sep 18 - 09:35 PM

The trees are turning, I mean the leaves are.
And early morning has that crispness to the air
which has been sorely lacking
during the muggy soggy humid summer heat wave.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 11 Sep 18 - 01:27 PM

copper beech update- - discovered my lovely neighbour across the way has a copper beech sapling from a self seeded nut of my poor old tree! He has offered it to me when I get around to start reorganising the garden - ie get the wood cutters and chippers round to finish the job of dismantling and clearing the body of my beautiful tree. Parts of it don't know they are dead- sprouts have grown from the supine trunk! And the poor stump does not realise there is no tree above to feed, it still draws water and nutrients from the ground - in vain.
Many of the other plants and bushes that I thought had been destroyed have amazingly forced their way through and around the wreckage of the beech, flourished all summer. Fingers crossed they survive the next onslaught when the final cutting up of the trunk happens!
I feel calmer about the whole experience now - there are benefits, much more light /better views - however the whole world can see in now, no shelter!
Coming up for 11 months -- what a sad year, what a dreadful loss.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Sep 18 - 05:38 PM

Ah, well.
It will be a while before the heat gets turned on
in my apartment building.
And the nights are really cool now.
So, out with the my-God-this-thing-is-heavy quilt.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: keberoxu
Date: 31 Oct 17 - 06:27 PM

Come ON, landlord,
turn the heat on in my apartment building
!!

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Oct 17 - 08:28 AM

snow tires mounted, insulated windows check, clearing out basement looking for chrismas crap. One or two more mowing mulching of the leaves and then I need to extract the snow blower from the growing weeds where it was parked all summer. Furnace should be replaced , maybe next year. like I promised 15 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Signs of Autumn
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Oct 17 - 08:07 AM

Sunrise at 0730 and frequent cold rain. Hunting for gloves. Duvet back on the bed. Cats even more somnolent than usual. Advertisements for snow tires. "Shouldn't you have called the furnace cleaners by now?"