Apple pie, apple cider, apple butter

This weekend was full of apples, pumpkins, and tigers. It was a perfect fall weekend (though still a bit hot here in North Carolina).
Prettiest tree of the day:

Festival of the Trees #16 - Fade to Color (Seasons Change)

WELCOME! Welcome, tree-lovers, friends and strangers to the 16th Festival of the Trees, the monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal.

Every year, right about now, my dad likes to say:

"I like fall, the leaves and all."

Ah. Me too. I LOVE this time of year. It thrills me to the bones to smell the crisp air, feel the chill on a perfectly clear brilliant day and hear the crunch of leaves under my feet. And the trees! How amazing that we are surrounded by such color in nature.
Ok...I'm jumping the gun a little. It's only October 2nd, and in North Carolina most of the trees are still green (see the above photo). But autumn in all it's splendor is just around the corner in this part of the world...
So let's watch as the season changes, and the the green earth fades to color...

Let's start with a simple haiku and a colorless tree. Kevin at Rural Cemetery Movements shares a fantastic line drawing at Five Falling Leaves and the season begins to change.


If you're up for a majestic hike in the Pacific Northwest, Marja-Leena Rathje can take you there, to the forests of Vancouver's backyard. It's a wonderful world where the trees are tall or soft and peaceful. The trees are still green here. Explore more of her art and writing here.

Speaking of being Green...It's not easy, especially in the city. But the trees grow on...season after season, and they just adapt and change as necessary.

Karen at Rurality spent a weekend here, at Shiloh National Military Park looking for artifacts and pondering the history of the trees on the battlefield. My favorite are the "Two big Water Oaks near the Visitor's center." Imagine how colorful they'll be in a month or so!

Windywillow has shared a beautiful tribute to her favorite tree - the calming and mysterious Willow. You can enjoy her photos as well as a lovely video clip of willows blowing in the wind. Enchanting!

A thank you to Paul Lester (and the Chinese philosopher) for a thought about the "Usefulness" of trees. Lovely photography. And thanks to Maria for the reflection on the "Pricelessness" of trees.

And now a word about Black Walnuts and Burma. Dave at Via Negativa discusses the far corners of the world and the season change in his own back yard - in the form of Black Walnuts thumping on the roof. And frizzyLogic has some beautiful photos of "conkers," or horse chestnuts (for those Americans who've never heard of a "conker" - myself included). This seems to be the season for nuts, for the WildWoodsWoman has been shoveling acorns off the ground. All this talk about nuts reminds me of one of my favorite childhood trees...the hickory tree in front of our house that got chopped down when the road was widened. So sad. Ah well. Seasons change...


Speaking of seasons changing, Wren of Wrenaissance Reflections takes a moment to remember trees of the past. Notice all the new life surrounding these past trees! And in New Jersey, this is the season of mushrooms. John at A DC Birding Blog spotted some fantastic fungi, clinging to a tree past.

Tall Girl, at Smoke and Ash has witnessed a curious autumn ritual (of sorts) here. She saw some extraordinary trees on a lunchtime walk, as she climbed "nearer to the sky."

Jade Blackwater of Arboreality, gives us a first glimpse of autumn at Tobyhanna. Finally some color! And now autumn, or "The Changeling" slowly begins to "work his magic" through the poetic words of Beloved Dreamer.


And for some real fall color, check out a few gorgeous Flickr sets that I happened upon:
Here and here. The second is autumn in a Japanese garden, and I can't think of a more gorgeous setting for photographs. The set has some breathtaking trees.

And lastly, three of my favorite things in the world are trees, tea, and clay and they are combined here in an amazing ceramic gallery that I've just discovered (Thanks, Mom!).

Well that's it for this month's festival!
Thank you all for your submissions and suggestions. Next month Windywillow will be hosting the Festival of the Trees. Please send your creepy tree-related submissions to: silviasalix (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk. (The deadline is Oct. 26, to give Silvia time to prepare a special Halloween edition!). If you have any questions, you will probably find answers here.

Here's to the trees!