Apples and I love the seasons

I love the seasons and even living in California I do experience them.

 I grew up in Wisconsin where the seasonal changes are more dramatic. Is there anything in nature more lovely than when the leaves of trees turn fall colors? Winter in Wisconsin means snow, pure white and snowflakes falling gently or heavily. I miss that. Eventually in my beloved Wisconsin snow becomes grey slush and icy driving conditions appear so that is the down side of cold winters. Seasonal changes are definitely more subtle here, but they are here. My tomatoes give up in September and then I can plant a fall veggie garden which I did last weekend.
May Sarton wrote of the autumn that
"For the joys a garden brings are already going as they come. They are poignant. When the first apple falls with that tremendous thud, one of the big seasonal changes startles the heart."
"Plant Dreaming Deep", 1968.

I am using a patio chair to support the heavily weighed apple tree branches from this old tree in our back yard. Our apples are organic, no spray used. The ones that fall to the ground are very fragrant. When we owned an apple tree orchard the fallen apples were fed to happy pigs.

We don't know what kind of apples these are as we did not plant them, but they are a bit tart and ideal for apple crumble and apple pie. A friend on Facebook suggests these are Gravenstein apples and my husband says she may be right.
If you can tell by the photos, let me know what kind of apples these are.

Autumn: poem by Emily Dickinson

Autumn will soon be here.
Emily Dickinson had this to say about the season:
Autumn
The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

The photo was taken by my husband Will on a trip to Connecticut in autumn.

House decorated for fall

My husband took this photo on October 23, 2010, on his trip to Connecticut, and I love the way this house is decorated for autumn and Thanksgiving. It is very natural and appropriate, don't you agree?