Happy Hallow'een

Well this is Samhain;
Hallow'een for the general public, the eve of All Hallows or the christian feastday of the dead.

Samhain for some of us, the ancient festival marking the beginning of Winter and the need to prepare for the dark half of the year. At Tara and the Hill of Ward fires would have been lit and from these the chains of bonfires across the great central plains and out to the furthest reaches of the country, or so the poets tell us. The gathering at Tara at Samhain brought together clans for horse trading, games, arts, marriages; the ancestors were honoured and the gods, and the chieftains and the fosterings and alliances. Divinations were made, omens examined.

Over the centuries the christian associations (Feast of the saints, all souls) has beome conflated with the original ideals of Ancestor, and the sense of a liminal time. But underneath the games and the ghost stories, you have the ancient and enduring.

I love the ghostly and ghoulish and the mischief; I also love the older philosophies and tonight, I'll be reaching out to my ancestors, as they once did to theirs...

Yellow on Black

Daisy, Daisy

Still trying to keep the winter at bay by revisiting some summer days :) But It's nearly Samhain, the year is turning and although Autumn is beautiful I can;t help but feel a little cheated because Summer was really a non event. Heigh Ho, have to embrace the cold now - and the fact that a week from Saturday I'll be 40 years of age!
I was thinking of doing a series of posts on things that remind me of being young...or that represent turning 40...if I come up with anything I'll post it.

Cascade

Star

Yellow Rose

This is how I feel today..

I opened the front door and instead of a rosy Autumnal dawn it was freezing cold, wet and windy; I literally wanted to turn tail and hide under the covers. I feel grey. And cold.

From the Tree Tops

Rosy Dawn

A lovely dawn in October, and our really out of season roses!

Snail's Pace

Autumn Leaves

A friend who lives on a rock in the north sea was bemoaning the lack of trees (nothing can grow higher than a hedgerow because of the wind) and asked for photos to remind him of the colours and look of Autumn...this is one I took on the spur of the moment yesterday morning, a pile of leaf litter outside my parents' house. I was pleased that I manage to frame the central leaf, and that it wasn't just a pile of dirty leaves!

The Last Rose Blooms

The last rose blooms
in rare weather; it takes
rain and sunshine,
good times deferred
bad days and first frost
and luck; good soil,
good stock.

The fading glory appeals
to older eyes; wiser tastes
applaud and accept
its rich fragility,
the final beauty adorning
our autumn days
with grace.

It weathered spring storms
and summer torrents
the sun's relentless beating
and the shade
until it put forth one perfect
bloom; a memory of days
now past

Other plants wither, decay
give in early to the cold
lose heart at the first blasts
of autumn winds -
Some draw on roots that run
deep into good earth -
and bloom.


Geraldine Moorkens Byrne

Last of the Summer Flowers

The Last Stand

The unnatural weather has caused my mint to bloom again and we have several small roses in the front garden; but our landlady's little japenese shrub has turned bright red, in a last burst of glorious colour.

Focus Colour

I've always loved those black and white shots where some bits are picked out in colour so while making my Breast Cancer Awareness grpahic I had a chance to practise.

Support National Breast Cancer Month

Support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Donate To Breast Cancer treatment and detection

or why not take part in one of the events organized by the Marie Keating Foundation:

http://www.bebreastaware.com/october_events.asp

Shower and Shadow

Crow

Something I see everyday; the crow stained glass ornament that hangs in our front window. I love crows; and friends tend to give me crow related items. This was bought on a trip to a labyrinth/maze where one can walk a spiral and meditate. The new agery left me cold - I prefer the authentic in ruins to the pretty but prefabricated. However my then flatemate bought me this so it wasn't a wasted trip :)
plus I did realize that when I am filthy rich and have a huge estate (don't laugh, it's only a matter of time before those numbers come up!) I can build my own maze. Mine will have bear pits and mantraps, and maybe some crocodiles.

Blue Rose

The devil makes work for idle hands and mine found themselves wandering through gimp and playing ;)

Purple Rain

Mustard Yellow

I used to have a pair of trousers that very colour in the early 90s. Ye Gods how did I leave the house?

Autumn Colours