Autumnal Thoughts........

[Fifty150]

The tomato in my yard are finally beginning to ripen.

 

[MisterCairo]

Autumn where we are...

 

[Zombie_61]

Monsoon season here. Well, sort of. Over the last several years Arizona has been kind enough to share their monsoon season with us as those storms have been moving farther west each year. Overnight last weekend we had actual thunderstorms. That's a rarity in this part of southern California, especially considering the extreme drought conditions we've been experiencing in recent years. Tonight we're supposed to get light showers and maybe some light rain in the morning, but no thunder or lightning this time. Well...not until they change the forecast again, that is.

 

[Fifty150]

I buy tomato from a local store, in The USA. The package says it's a Canadian company, grown in Mexico, grown in greenhouses. The company's website calls it "avalantino" tomato. A web search shows that "avalantino" is an engineered hybrid seed from a company in The Netherlands. "Global" tomato is sold at half the price of "local" tomato. How that makes economic sense? I don't know. I know that tomato grown within an hour of my house cost twice as much. People say that you can't grow fruit from hybrid fruit seeds.

 

[Fifty150]

Pretty amazing to see how they grow a tomato in a greenhouse.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I got Espresso liqueur!!
Coffee liqueurs are relatively rare in old Germany.

White Russian, anyone?

 

[Trenchfriend]

I'm burning a middle-sized "Lavender-Mint" candle from Edeka storebrand. It's really nice and it doesn't stink!

 

[Zombie_61]

I'm burning a middle-sized "Lavender-Mint" candle from Edeka storebrand. It's really nice and it doesn't stink!

Going off-topic for a bit here, a friend broke my nose...shattered, really...when I was six years old, and it was the morning of my sister's first wedding so there was no trip to the doctor for little Zombie--stop the bleeding, change his shirt, send him back out to play. As such, my sense of smell is regularly different from that of most people so scented candles are something of an oddity for me. On the shelf in the store or fresh out of the packaging, on a good day I usually agree with whatever the scent description is. But the moment someone lights that candle, the "Lavender Mint" scent is gone and, to me, it just smells like every other candle out there; burnt wax and whatever-the-wick-is-made-from. Admittedly, this has caused some curious conversations over the years when my wife has purchased a scented candle to help "set the mood". "This one is called 'Roses and Honey'. Doesn't it smell nice?" "No, to me it smells like you dropped your cigarette and set the carpet on fire." I'm not quite as dumb as I look, so it wasn't long before I learned to simply say, "Oh, yeah, that's nice," even though, to me, it smelled like a dumpster fire and bum sweat.

I apologize for that. We now return you to the regular thread, already in progress.

 

[Zachary]

Here in Central Europe the “de-leafation” of trees has begun very belatedly compared to the years before, and there’s almost no color change at all. Pity, I must say, since fall is my favorite season.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Compensation for the pissy weather.

 

[Zombie_61]

Here in Central Europe the “de-leafation” of trees has begun very belatedly compared to the years before, and there’s almost no color change at all. Pity, I must say, since fall is my favorite season.

I can sympathize. Having lived in southern California for the last 60 years, I've rarely experienced that transition into fall because the weather here mostly favors "evergreens" and the like. So everything either stays green until it falls from the trees, or it turns brown and falls within a day or three.

That being said, there is a street not far from the one we live on that seemed to have been groomed by the city planners to be something of a haven from the evergreens. On every lot/plot in our city the first twelve feet from the curb inward remains city property no matter how strenuously the landowner objects or how much he/she pays for that land. As such, the city can use that twelve feet to install allegedly improved drainage systems, electric cable, water pipes, guardrails, street lights, or whatever. On this particular street which occupies mostly a single city block, they chose decades ago to plant a maple tree on each lot so, whether by design or dumb luck, the people living on that street were privy to a spectacular (by comparison to the surrounding streets) change of seasons as those trees followed nature. Of course, the mess left behind once all of those leaves had fallen was pretty spectacular as well, but...

 

[Trenchfriend]

Come over, we're relaxing together.

 

[dh66]

I snapped this photo last weekend. That tree is nearly bare of leaves now. It was a beautiful autumn for the week or so that it lasted.

 

[Bushman]

A couple pics from this year's peak:

 

[Trenchfriend]

I was in the mood for clove, today.

So SIR Irisch Moos Eau de Toilette.

 

[Trenchfriend]

It's so good, that seemingly more storebrands here are launching quality level-fragrance candles, similar to Yankee Candle, so that you have a better choice, these days.
Actually, I'm burning one from Edeka storebrand, Lavender/Mint. Marked with "65 hours burning time".

 

[Trenchfriend]

Can't wait, my loungers, CAN'T WAIT!

 

[LostInTyme]

Change is upon us, like it or not. Think it may be time for flannel shirts. The trees are putting on their fall colors, football is in full swing, the air has a crisp feeling most days, the air conditioner has stopped, Halloween isn't far off, just go to Lowes and see the giant skeletons, soon we will be thinking of turkey and stuffing, and then on to winter and Christmas and New Years, and how far away Spring really is.

I think I'm ready for some pumpkin spice Budweiser, ahhh autumn.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Is it that time of year already again? Was in upstate New York last week and tasted my daughter’s pumpkin spice beer. I did enjoy the crisp mornings.

unfortunately, here in Hawaii, autumn and winter barely register. I miss having all four seasons.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Forget Uncle Winter, at least in old Germany. Global warming...

High-summer temps until 3rd October...