Little Spokane River nature Trail
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: #Signs of …Autumn? Spring?

This week, as the Autumnal and Vernal equinoxes we experienced on Sept 22 have brought the planet to equal days and nights for a moment, I’m sure we are seeing weather and temperatures play out as such! In either hemisphere signs of the seasons are already playing out depending upon where you live.

Fall Has Fallen and Spring Has Sprung!

Hint of Autumn in the Aspen trees
Hint of Autumn in the Aspen trees

“Autumn calls the forest to rest, to exhale in a flood of colors rubbed to a fiery warmth on the hearth of both hill and plain before nodding off to a winter’s slumber.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

As I shared in June about the summer solstice making our days a minute shorter each day in the northern hemisphere, Autumn really shows the impact as nights are longer than the days and glorious colors begin to pepper the landscapes. The shortening of daylight will continue through the winter solstice.

Smoky Spokane in September 2020
Last year’s smoky September in Spokane, Washington

All at once, summer collapsed into Fall.

Oscar Wilde

Ah, darkness. As a sun-lover, I appreciate early morning sunshine and late evening sunsets, especially here in Northeastern Washington. Already, I switch the lights on when I awake at 6-ish and back on by 7pm. By December it will be dark here by 4pm, which is what I’ve already experienced when we moved here in December 2020! Oh well, l hope the glow of the reflected light off the snow will help illuminate what daytime hours we do have.

As we are finishing the month of September, the warm days (mid-70s this week), but colder nights are teasing us with signs of Autumn. Here in the Spokane, Washington area, Autumn colors reach their color peak about mid-October, with reds dominating the vibrant colors, mixed with abundant evergreen trees. A stunning sight to see!

According to my favorite meteorologist, Jeremy Lagoo, on KREM news (Spokane), he says, “Enjoy it while you can…” This image tells you what we are expecting! Brrr!

KREM News weather graphic
Credit: KREM 2

Those temperature drops each month bring the promise of this…by mid-October.

Glowing Auburn leaves

For the time being, September gives us these signs of Autumn:

  • Signs of autumn
  • Little Spokane River nature Trail
    Little Spokane River nature Trail

What are the signs of the season changing where you live?

Fall Florals

Early Autumn shows off her sense of humor with spent sunflowers, heavy with seeds:

Spent Sunflower
Spent sunflower heavy with seeds

Or, Fall Asters, a purple contrast to the yellows and golds.

Purple Fall Aster
Purple Fall Aster

Apart from the obvious plant life changes, other signs of Autumn include:

  • September’s Harvest moon
  • Migrating birds
  • Crisp, clean air
  • Less daylight
  • Cool (and cold!) temperatures
White Teapot on black stove

–Fire in the wood stove or fireplace
-Smell of smoke from chimneys

Cozy blanket Autumn Decor

-Cozy blankets

-Seasonal home décor

Retail pumpkins signs of autumn

-Store displays for Halloween and Christmas(!)
-Lots of apples, pumpkins and squash

Inspired By Other Bloggers’ Photo Challenges

This week I’m linking with the following bloggers who offer their creative photo challenges:

Cees Flower of the Day; Dawn’s Annual Festival of Leaves; Marsha’s WQWWC: Communication; JohnBo’s CellPic Sunday, Jude’s Life in Color: Gold, and Lens-Artists Challenge.

For those in the Southern hemisphere, spring awakens from its winter slumber to the promise of warm days, green pastures and riots of colorful flowers and blossoms.

October themes for Sunday Stills can be found on my Sunday Stills Photography page.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post. I also recommend adding your post’s URL into the comments.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Use hashtag #SundayStills for sharing on social media.

Fall Has Fallen and Spring Has Sprung

Share your season’s signs of changes this week. Any type of creativity is welcomed, with your images, stories, poetry, etc.

Golden Bloggers’ Links

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are the last week’s links from bloggers who shared their favorite golden moments. Please stop by if you haven’t yet.

Bushboy’s World

A Day in the Life

Cats and Trails and Garden Tales

Cath’s Camera

Cee’s Photo Challenges

Deb’s World

Denyse Whelan Blogs

Easin’ Along Image in Comments

Graham’s Island

Heaven’s Sunshine

Hugh’s Views & News

Kamerapromenadar

Light Words

Light Write Life

NEW Linda Schaub Blog

Loving Life

Natalie the Explorer

Priorhouse Blog

The Day After

This is Another Story

Tranature

Wind Kisses

Woolly Muses

Working On Exploring

Have a wonderful week!

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100 comments

  2. Your daylight hours are on a par with ours. That spent sunflower looks just like the one we have in our garden. I much prefer spring and summer as I’m not keen on the short days. Lovely red trees – are they near your house?

    Liked by 1 person

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    • It’s a few weeks earlier here, Jodie, but still feels like summer for another day then boom, fall will really hit! BTW, we are still on track for a long winter road trip sans RV after the holidays, so we hope to spend a lot longer in Phoenix area and we will definitely meet up!

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  12. Fall definitely has my heart Terri. The jewel tones and crispness in the air, all which you have captured and detailed here. The leaves have not begun to turn here in SE Michigan, save for a few crimson leaves – they are oddballs, as the rest of the leaves are still green, but that change is coming. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula already has the rich hues and I heard on the news that Michigan is now on par with the Northeast for beautiful Fall foliage and Leaf Peepers coming to visit. Thank you for linking to my blog – I appreciate it.

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  20. […] I stumbled across a weekly photo challenge and have participated for a few weeks now. Sunday Stills hosted by Terri on her blog, SecondWindLeisure blog, is where I found the challenge. I’ll endeavor to capture a fresh image that fits the theme and also share a few photos from our archives. For me, the photos all tie back to memories of our life and travels together. Hope you find them interesting and enjoyable. Enjoy Terri’s post “Signs of Autum? Spring?”. […]

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  23. What I love about the seasonal changes where you live (and in more cold climes here in Australia) is how colourful it is. A huge and beautiful array of the warmest colours…to get you ready for winter. Those hours and darkness for you this time round are in your new house so that is a great thing to look forward to. As we end September here in our part of Australia, we enter 6 months of daylight saving (so called extra hour of light at the end of the days) I find it a bit long and preferred the older 4 month version. I’ve written about Spring and have many colours to share too…and that for now at least until end 2021 this will be my last post for #SundayStills. It’s been a fabulous place to find and new friendships made thanks to you dear Terri!
    Denyse.

    https://www.denysewhelan.com.au/denyse-blogs/spring-signals-its-here-sundaystills-117-2021/

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  25. I love all your autumnal colour Terri, and the drop in temperatures is very interesting! We are heading into warmer weather which makes me happy 🙂 Thanks again for having us. I always wonder where your ideas for the prompts come from and learn something each time you mention it as in the equinoxes, I hadn’t thought of that!
    Here’s my post https://debs-world.com/2021/09/26/nothing-ever-seems-impossible-in-spring-sundaystills/

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    • Once the weather changes, it’s almost instantaneous that we see much more color, Sarah. Our neighbor’s tree changed literally overnight which is nice since we have no trees on the property yet! Thanks, Sarah, and looking forward to seeing your fall colors!

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  33. Terri,
    Your pictures are fabulous! It’s a little early for Fall in the Tennessee lowlands, but the higher elevations have got it going on, although our daytime temps are in the mid-70’s right now (won’t last). My contribution is a picture from a little nook in the mountains of Tennessee near the Virginia and North Carolina borders. The area is known as Shady Valley, and it is a gorgeous place this time of the year. Have a great week. Joe

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Joe! Saturdays, we drove around looking at the few trees that had some fall color. Today I drove to the post office (feels like Mayberry sometimes) and major changes in just two days. Of course I went leaf chasing with my phone. Your photo is fabulous, I always love the whole mix of yellow, orange, and red interspersed with green. Yesterday the temps got to 82 and today 69 with chance of rain. I can safely say Fall fell! Have a great week!

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  36. Absolutely beautiful photos, Terri! Although I was born in October, I definitely am a Spring & Summer fan (and already miss them). I can’t believe that I lived half way across the world for 14 years and still had winter. That was very bad planning on my part. 😀 But you do make Autumn look very, very inticing!

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    • Thanks, Donna! I do love Autumn for a variety of reasons. I lived in Southern Cal for years where the change of seasons was almost non-existent. Once I got to NorCal, I fell in love with cooler weather and seasons. With all your outdoor activities, spring an summer suit you well!

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  51. My favourite season, Terri. But you already know that.

    I love your description of what Autumn is all about. Chilly nights are my thing, especially when it comes to sleeping. Remember that we Brits don’t have air-con in our homes. So hot, humid nights aren’t my thing. And we seem to be seeing more of them happening during the summer months, although not so much here in Southwest Wales.

    That temperature drops over the next three months in your part of the world looks fantastic. I’m looking forward to the cold, frosty days that lay ahead.

    I published some autumnal photos last week, but here’s a haiku I wrote many years ago during my first year of blogging.

    Happy Autumn.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hooray for Autumn’s arrival Hugh! After every hot summer I look forward to that temp drop and the riot of color that ensues. Like you I love everything about Autumn. We don’t even have to rake leaves this year (no trees). Thanks for the beautiful image and haiku. Perfect!

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  53. How great we go together! Beautiful Autumn over there! I have not reached those colours yet over here, but here’s my contribution lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/lens-artists-challenge-167-colours-of-autumn/

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