Autumn Rambles

autumn leaves; ©booksandbuttons

It’s begun!  There’s a snap in the air in the mornings.  And a chilliness when I take Woody out for a final outing in the evening.  Summer is fading away and autumn is here.  I love it!

This morning I went for a ride in the country –on an errand– and looked eagerly for signs of red and yellow leaves–not many yet.  I caught an earlybird maple on the way into town the other morning (above) and more will soon follow.  Pennsylvania has a lovely show each year.

“Free Kittens”! ©booksandbuttons

I saw a tempting sign by the side of the road, but firmly drove on by . . .

And stopped in a little shop on my way home . . .

autumn decorations at Seraphim on Route 313

By then it was lunchtime so I headed home.  And there, well, here, I have the best autumn decoration of all———–a huge jigsaw puzzle of 1500 pieces.  A couple of weeks ago I saw it and had been thinking about it—because the scene reminds me of a river that was near us when I was growing up—the Schroon River near Warrensburg NY.  All it lacks is a fisherman along the banks.

“Colorful Crossing” by Springbok puzzles (click to enlarge)

The puzzle is huge—something like 36 inches x 29 inches.  It will barely fit on the table if I ever finish it.  My husband goes past and says stuff like “Wow–you’re doing great!” or “Gee, you’re almost finished!”

But of course I’m not.  That photo above shows only the TOP HALF of the puzzle.  If you look at the picture on the box, you’ll see that there is still a lot (a LOT) of greenery beneath the bridge.  And, in fact, I still have the top left of the puzzle to do–
To the untrained eye, it looks like the puzzle is nearly finished, but if that’s the case, why are all these pieces still waiting in the box!
I started with the blue sky–who wouldn’t?  But there wasn’t much there, too bad.   Then the trees started in—gorgeous reds which were fun to do–nice bright yellows, and currently struggling just a little with orangey–goldey–rustey–greyey green trees and bushes.  This is a sample of choices before me:
Hunting for the piece with the dippy shoulder, or the hump on the right, the wild curve, the red head, the long yellow leaves, the skinny with heads at both ends.

Well, there are worse things than having a great big puzzle on the table for free time.  And such a great autumn scene at that.