Rocky Mountains Autumn splendor: northern Rockies nature is at its showy best in early fall
Updated: Sep 14
POETS PAY HOMAGE TO COLORFUL FALL IN FULL GLORY NOW IN MONTANA
"Life starts all over again,
when it gets crisp in the fall..."
--F. Scott Fitzgerald
STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS
PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER
"The Carpe Diem Kids"
Editor's Note: This piece is timeless -- except for the COVID references. Let's hope that's permanently behind us.
NOWHERE in all my global jaunts have I seen autumns as lovely as Montana's.
Yes, the Swiss Alps beg one to stay a while with their dramatic dips and peaks. Norway's birch and pine forests charm with a brilliant canvas of yellow, orange, deep green.
But Montana's fall takes a towering top place in my seasonal book.
Right now, we're relishing those first mornings when there's a change in the air. The mornings are crisp, sun warms the days and evenings are cool. Swaying aspen, pirouetting leaves and the distinctive, autumnal feel reminds us that winter will soon knock on the door.
CRITTERS are on the prowl, making nests, stockpiling food, planning for their long winter as we take down screens and replace them with storm windows.
Seasonal birds are gone. The rare migrating grosbeak visits the feeder as the faithful chickadee remains.
I hope to fulfill F. Scott Fitzgerald's encouragement, that "life starts all over again....in the fall." Boy, howdy, could we use a new beginning to this lousy year with political unrest, riots, looting and that pesky virus signaling absence of theater, travel, dining out.
Oh, sure, we're still upright, "on the right side of the dirt," as my grandfather Gus said. But won't we all welcome New Year's Eve, as we flip the calendar from 2020 to a new year of promise, 2021?
MEANWHILE, we'll share a few more favorite autumn quotes.
Rocky Mountains Autumn Splendor -- Poets Wax on Fall
William Cullen Bryant called autumn "the year's last loveliest smile." Emily Bronte waxed poetic with "Every leaf sings bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree."
My favorite autumn quote is from Emily Dickinson, who observed that autumn was "A little this side of the snow, and that side of the haze."
MYSTICAL poet, Albert Camus, called autumn "a second spring, when every leaf is a flower."
Shira Tamir, who writes about nature and the human condition, said “Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.”
Philosopher, poet Rainer Maria Rilke said of autumn, "At no other time does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”
We had not experienced a Rocky Mountains autumn Montana autumn for more than a decade. So we're enjoying the colors, warmth and transformation of nature as it unveils its changing canvas.
It won't last long, so take it in before it vanishes under that frosty white stuff.
HERE IN Montana, the trees will soon be bare and our driveway will accumulate several feet of serious snow.
The good news about winter's much needed moisture is it diminishes fire hazard for next summer and makes the spring grasses all the greener, the first blooms of columbine, wild geranium and lupine all the lovelier.
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.”
--Poet Stanley Horowitz
UP NEXT: Road trip time. As many of us continue to avoid air travel, we offer updated tips on traveling by auto in Covid times. Make certain everyone in the car is equipped with tissue, individual hand sanitizer, snacks, blanket and a mask for rest stops. The parks are uncrowded, gas is reasonable and it's a good time to appreciate the changing colors. More tips await next week. Meanwhile remember to explore, learn and live and catch us weekly for a fresh look at travel, nature, the arts, family and more: whereiscookie.com
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