Autumn Tuesday On A (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Tales From An Autumn Walk

We've been having some unseaonably warm temps (and humidity) this week making it a tad uncomfortable but a southwesterly breeze is better than no breeze at all! Yesterday I just had to get out of the house and take in Autumn, which is in full swing here on the coast (peak as of Halloween), because Monday I wasn't up for it and I knew today would be stormy off and on throughout the whole day and given the time of year, I don't want to get caught in an unexpected down pour and miss Halloween, ya know? ;-) So I packed my tote with a bottle of water, a journal, my camera and The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman (the novel I'm currently reading) and headed out.

Well, it was warmer than I expected yesterday morning despite the cool breeze and by the time I took this photo, I was already working up a good sweat and this is on the same street we live on! (We do live on a rather long street that runs the length of town and runs through 2 other towns as well). Isn't the light in Autumn beautiful?

Because I thought the street I normally took into town was blocked off at the bottom for the Borough Hall renovation, I veered off onto a different side street. We live in a very hilly neighborhood to say the least and by the time I got to the Historical Society Mansion (all decked out for their haunted tours on Halloween) I was thinking that perhaps this walk wasn't a good idea! (The walking wasn't easy at first physically for me and jeepers it was Hot!) I stood here, looking at the Mansion for a bit then decided to keep going. (At least from this point it was down hill into town!)

Aside from the volunteers who 'haunt' the Mansion at Halloween, I wonder what haunts it the rest of the year?

Almost down town, I came upon this fence and just had to take a picture of it! This is one of my favorites I took yesterday! Ah the garden in Autumn!

After my errand at the hardware store was complete, I headed across the street to the park to rest and cool off. I found a completely shaded bench and plopped down.

The trees here are such a stunning shade of orange!

A crisp breeze was at my back thankfully (as the sun had been on it my whole walk into town and I was wearing a black t-shirt). Despite the noise coming from the Borough Hall reno, it was so nice sitting there, people & leaf watching. I took out my journal and actually began to write.

"I've never done this before, just sat down on a bench in (____)'s Park and we've lived here nearly 5 years! (5 years as of December). I'm sl glad for this shaded bench right now. I'm too hot & uncomfortable to continue right to the thrift shop. So here I am, resting, drinking water and cooling down. I'd forgotten how uncomfortable walking with a stent in can be. Ack. Funny, though it's been unseasonably warm (as if Autumn never has anything but chilly temps? ha!), Autumn is in her full glory and I can sense Winter's approach already. Maybe it's those bare, grayish brown branches against this powder blue sky. A woman from the bank has joined me in the park, on another bench. I went strait for the shade, she went strait for the sun. I don't want to get up, I'm quite comfortable and cool now! No one looks as someone reading on a park bench as being strange or eye roll worthy, but I wonder about someone sitting on a park bench writing like me? It makes me smile to see a couple automatically hold hands once they're out of their car and walking, not one making an effort to do so & the other not. I love when we do that. The bell in the Baptist Church up the street is tolling, it's noon! Huh, what's up with the sweat pants and clogs look today? I've seen it twice since sitting here. I should get moving to the thrift shop. Leaves are falling around me like snow."

And so I made my way slowly to the other side of town, stopping at the creek.

This is the fence alongside the creek.

I've always loved this house! It's all decked out for Halloween. Really, it looks like I should be living there. :-)

Just a random shot along the way home.

I stopped for lunch at a favorite local spot and had a bowl of stuffed pepper soup which was delicious! (I've never had a soup there I didn't like but I think this is my new favorite). I read my book until a friend met me there and then we walked back into town for a bit and then sat in (____)'s Park to talk for a while before I made the trek home. It was fully cloudy by the time we left the eatery, getting windy and a tad foggy too. The perfect Autumn day at last! Have you ever noticed how no matter how dim it is on an Autumn day, the foliage brightens it as if the sun were shining?

Home at last!

For more photo's of yesterday's walk, head over to New Jersey Through My Eyes for a slideshow.