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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

these meadowsounds: sumac

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. . . We are here again with the beloved. This air,
a shout. These meadowsounds, an astonishing myth . . .


- read the whole short poem: Ode 3079 - Meadowsounds, by Rumi


beloved Sumac:

(please click to enlarge)


For Julia, who after a long hot summer in Texas especially requested a post with warm autumn colors in cool Michigan.
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70 comments:

Christine Gram said...

Beautiful... my parents live in the wilds of Wisconsin. I love to see the colors and your creative perspectives.

Claudia said...

What a fantastic poem that conveys spiritual plenitude so well!

Beautiful, gorgeous, enchanting photos, Ruth! September is by far my favourite month and it was even more so when I lived in Ohio.

Thank you for brightening up my day!

Anya said...

Amazing collage,
its beautful,
I love also autumn colors....
its so peaceful :)

Barry said...

Sumacs know how to celebrate the Fall better than anyone, or anything.

I especially love the photo of the tractor.

Our leaves are just thinking about changing colour.They are not quite sure yet but will likely have their minds made up in a week or so.

amuse me said...

I love how your place offers up so many opportunities for gorgeous pictures. I've especially noticed the sumac this year with its brilliant red. :) M

joaop1960@gmail.com said...

Is like everything is saying come home, come home...

ellen abbott said...

We do actually get some color here in south Texas. The chinese tallow trees turn yellow, red and orange. I have two ginkos that turn yellow and sometimes some of the oaks turn.

I love the way you do those collages.

Kerri Farley said...

Beautiful collage! LOVE your header too!!!

Unknown said...

mmmmm....love those fall colors. i'm hoping to spend a lot of time in central park and up in New England this fall. and in Michigan, of course! although all the leaves may be gone by the end of November. so nice of you to do that for MIL!

bindu said...

wow - that's a lovely collection!

Pat said...

I love the fall and you have a great collection there. The collage is beautiful.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

My favourite time of year.

ds said...

Oh, the colors! Those beautiful, beautiful colors (we have not so many here. Yet.). Funny, we seem only to have "poison" sumac, less tree than bush with those long clusters of deeply purple berries that no one could eat...(they may have been used as dye once; is that possible?)

Wonderful quote from Rumi, also. Thank you!

Ginnie Hart said...

Fall colors already? Well, I guess that's as it should be. The South has really thrown off my seasonal calendar, I'm afraid. But how lovely that your sumac brings me back to my senses!

myonlyphoto said...

Ruth I cannot believe that summer is over. I like fall, but just to think how fast the summer went, the fall will do the same. I also cannot believe that it is my second summer with Matthew, God Bless him for growing so fast. Anna :) PS beautiful fall colors, and nice gesture.

Hildegarde said...

An autumn multi-view that makes you feel the season.

Susan said...

Ohhhh, the path picture is my favorite...leading us to...something pretty, I'm sure. Second fave, the tractor about to be bathed in warm sunlight. Pretty, pretty!

Anet said...

Hi Ruth!
I love the color of the sumacs in the fall! It's just beautiful. It seems to be one of the first to turn here in Michigan.
The photo collage is just lovely:)
Happy Autumn to you and Don!

California Girl said...

My husband photographs these leaves every Autumn and I did not know what they were until now.

Unknown said...

Julia is so happy with these pictures. Some of the pinks and reds make me think of . . . I don't know for sure, but all the colors make me smile. Thanks, Ruth, for showing me what you see. We're still seeing so much rain that brown/gray is the predominant color.

Sidney said...

What a nice set of autumn images...such beautiful colors!

NJ said...

I love how deep and red the sumac turn. They line the 2nd part of our laneway. I definitely love this time of year...just wish I didn't have to brace myself for the part directly after. Oh well at least this year I can work from home in better weather.

Ruth said...

Christine, I'm glad to hear there are some wilds left in Wisconsin, very glad. Next time you visit them honk as you fly over Michigan from Italy.

Ruth said...

Claudia, the poem yes, and I think September opens the window of light unlike any other month. It almost feels like you can see Presence.

PeterParis said...

The autumn is worth a better reputation than it may often have! Of course September may in general be nicer than November! :-)

Your colours seem to be slightly in advance of ours! :-)

Ruth said...

Anya, we lived in southern California five years, and I missed the four seasons of Michigan something fierce. Autumn is the comfort before winter's chill. But I love winter too.

I think you get some nice autumn color in the Nederlands.

Ruth said...

Barry, I don't know what's going on here, quite a few trees are turning, not only the sumac. It seems early. You are at about the same latitude in Scarborough.

Don's old Farm-All B is a beauty that sits in the corncrib mostly. He's thinking of selling it. But the kids love riding on it on Farm Day.

Ruth said...

M, do you say su-mac, or shu-mac?

Ruth said...

That's the comfort I feel too, João).

Ruth said...

Ellen, I looked up the Chinese tallow tree (the name alone is lovely), and it is beautiful. I'm surprised your trees turn and leaves fall (I assume they fall after they turn, right?). I guess we saw some of this when we lived in Southern California, but I don't remember any vivid reds or oranges.

Gingkos have such cool leaves.

Ruth said...

Thank you so much, Kerri. I thought it would be better to combine all the views in one spot rather than post them all separately.

Ruth said...

Wesrey! So you'll take Peter's car up into New England somewhere for a weekend? Did you know Uncle Bennett used to drive seniors around New England to show them the color in the fall in tour buses?

Ruth said...

Thank you, Bindu, these are for you too since you're in TX. They match your pretty avatar. I want to paint gourds like that.

Ruth said...

Pat, the way you live, you can follow the fall colors if you want.

Ruth said...

Pamela, your ode to the first day of autumn at your blog is beautiful.

rauf said...

i have never seen autumn Ruth, i have seen leafless trees, perhaps for various reasons but not autumn. And not many colurful trees in tropics, all, nearly all are green and never heard the word 'sumac' and tomorrow i may say i have never heard the word 'autumn'.

Jeanie said...

This is sumac! I took photos of this, but had no idea what it was called! Lovely!

Susan said...

Holy moley! I thought the region of the country where we grew up was the only place that called sumac "shu-mac"! Is that an accepted pronunciation? I'll have to stop correcting David if it is! :)

CottageGirl said...

And now Silence, my strict tutor.
I won’t try to talk about Shams.
Language cannot touch that Presence.


So lovely ...

Words that have been in my soul, but never crossed my tongue.

Merci!

~*~Magpie's Nest said...

I do like having four seasons ... and am trying to embrace this change to Fall!
Lovely montage and I got totally lost in your poetry link ... Rumi is ahhhh so wonderful!!!
Last Oct we got to see The Whirling Dervishes along with a program of Rumi readings at the Washington Nat'l Cathedral, it was unforgettable!

♥ Braja said...

Ahhh, one of my favorites, is Rumi...lovely post, Ruth...glad CM Jackson sent me...
x

freefalling said...

Oooo - my heart just skipped a little beat.
Your autumn looks a lot like our spring.

Ruth said...

rauf, but you remember movies and songs from the '70s, names of your friends' children - you remember some things very well. It's the same for me. I don't remember many of the things you tell me about Indian holidays, or cities, or your friends' names. I finally remember your sisters' names and your niece and nephew, and a few friends.

Ruth said...

DS, if I have seen poison sumac, I didn't know it. I would not be able to pick it out in a crowd. Something we have is pokeberry or pokeweed, all over, and it has long clusters of berries. It is poisonous to mammmals but not to birds. When Lesley was in art school she minored in fibers, and she made dye from the pokeberry - a wonderful deep maroon color. Doing research we found out that the Declaration of Independence was signed with ink made from pokeberries.

Ruth said...

Maybe not, Boots, I thought this was a little early this year. As I drive to work, many maples have one or two branches of leaves gone orange, the rest are green. It's an oddity. Frankly I always forget exactly when the leaves turn, so it could just seem early. I do know I took autumn color pictures at the cottage back in 2006, and it was the second weekend of October.

Ruth said...

Anna, the first year Matthew changed so much, now he walks and says words. We filled photo albums with Lesley the first year, and then it slowed down, maybe one a year. Now with digital I think I would never stop taking pictures of the kids. Well, I have grandchildren one day to do that with hopefully.

Ruth said...

Hildegarde, there are still many trees that remain green. I like autumn best when there is the contrast among the reds, yellows, oranges and greens.

Ruth said...

Susie! I would like to walk the path with you. Don mows it sort of like a maze, so we can walk the meadow in, out and around. When the goldenrod is peaked, it is a real treat. But I love it in all seasons, sitting on the bench in the middle made from rough logs.

Ruth said...

Happy Autumn, Anet! You love Autumn so much you named your daughter for it. :)

Ruth said...

Hi, California Girl. We have watched these sumacs triple in size and quantity in six years.

Ruth said...

Julia, it was my pleasure.

I imagine that although you are grateful for the rain, at times you might want to ask it to stop too. We have gotten a big dose of humidity the last few days from all the rain down there.

Ruth said...

Hi, Sidney, you can't argue with red in a photograph, can you?

Ruth said...

NJ, have you noticed how fast the sumac grow? Both in size and in numbers?

Yes, it does get very cold, yet I still love winter. I need to get some warmer gloves though.

Ruth said...

Peter, I grew up here in Michigan, and autumn is the season most people say is their favorite. It never occurred to me until now that anyone would dislike autumn. But now I think of it, autumn in Istanbul was very dreary.

I wonder why our colors are early, at least they seem so. But your flowers were earlier than ours in the spring. :)

Ruth said...

rauf, I responded to you earlier, up above. I lost my place. :)

Ruth said...

Susie, I grew up with my parents saying this little ditty about the pronunciation, which I found here:

"Story has it that a very learned Englishman, who apparently thought he was the living end in understanding the English language, approached George Bernard Shaw, the literary giant, one day. Quite flippanty he declared, 'Mr. Shaw, do you realize that in the English language there are only two words beginning with the letters 'su' that receive the 'sh' sound, sugar and sumac – to which Mr. Shaw replied, 'Sure!'"

Ruth said...

CottageGirl, there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. Words are just symbols, trying to express what we experience. They are just fingers pointing at the moon.

De rien!

Ruth said...

Oh, Patty! I went to see the Dervishes too a couple of years ago, with Coleman Barks reading and a drummer, cellist and string quartet. I loved it and posted about it here. I wonder if you heard Barks read too?

Susan said...

Ha! I am going to share that quote with my SIL who is always correcting her mom and dad! I'm still going to say "soo-mac" though!

(no need to answer) :)

Loring Wirbel said...

A friend in Grand Ledge was feeling blue about fall in Michigan. I told her she should feel glad for certain shades of orange-red, particularly when they blaze over the Grand River. We do not have these shades in the mountains - plenty of yellow from aspens, but no deeper oranges.

Tiffany said...

RUTH! Thank you sooo much. I am soooo glad that I finally found work. Sorry I've been so infrequent on here. I've been missing in action on my own blog as well. Hopefully, with my second job I'll be able to get on here a lil more often since my job is really really slow.

Hope all is well!!!!!

xoxoxo

Dutchbaby said...

I agree with everyone before me that this is a stunning collage, but what I really want to know is, is your photo on "Small" today a hint of an upcoming event?????

Ruth said...

Hello, and welcome, ♥ Braja, I'm glad CM sent you too, her post touched me.

Ruth said...

Letty, so this is now for you too, but heading the other way. I get confused. :|

Ruth said...

Susie :)

Ruth said...

Loring, I should drive over to GL and meander through town, and get down to the river trail. Jefferson St. is so lovely in autumn, especially down by your house, and on the island looking down the river. It's really strange this year how a lot of maples have one or two branches gone orange. I don't remember seeing it before.

Ruth said...

Hi, Tiffany, no worries! I'm just happy for you and the new job.

Ruth said...

Thank you, Dutchbaby. Haha, no, that would not be a hint. It is just an indication of how much I love babies, and when I was passing that window I had to take pictures of all the little sweaters and things. Oh shoot, I'd better learn to knit before I do have something to hint about!

GailO said...

...and now September is over!...Such beautiful photos Ruth!...I'm having fun trying to pick a favorite...I think the tree branches, the path, the goldenrod, ...I'm loving your photography:)

Ruth said...

Hi, Oliag! When I'm here in the meadow it's nice not to have to pick one of the views. It was so hard to have to limit it in a collage. :|