Tawny Leaves and Withered Hedges

One of my favourite tv adaptations of a Jane Austen novel is Persuasion with Rupert Penry-Jones (drool, drool).  I had never read the book,( I have to be in the right frame of mind to read the 'classics'), but today on my trawl through the charity bookshops, I came across this for £1.50 and when I opened it, found the words:-

"Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges,  and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn, that season which has drawn from every poet, worthy of being read, some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling." 

The last smiles of the year.  That is how it has been today - the sun has been smiling down, so this afternoon, I donned my walking boots and warm coat and set off road walking.

My pace was brisk and I felt full of energy as I strode down the road, looking for autumn.

There are still plenty of berries around and they sung out at me as I passed by.  These are on a Cotoneaster Horizontalis, which the birds tend to leave alone for some reason.

The hips on the dog roses are becoming fewer as they shrivel and fall.

The stems of the Bryony trail and twist around other plants, their berries soft and succulent.

And the Hawthorn in the hedgerow is still festooned with berried ornament.

The Berberis in the garden has little red droplets all along its stems.

And as I walk home, feeling fully invigorated, I see the cows all queuing up waiting to go in for milking.

But just taking a little time out to see what I was doing.

I guess days like this will become fewer and further in between, but I intend to make the most of them while they last.