LEARNING TO LOVE AUTUMN

Usually I am not too poetic, but it seems this next change of season has got me into a poetic humour and after saying goodbye to the summer with some thoughts and paintings, today I quite feel like welcoming autumn with some quotes and poetry of some great writers, accompanied by some photographs taken by me.

In fact, although I have never had a especial fondness for autumn, I have learnt to appreciate it, to treasure the warm and cosy evenings, eating the roasted chestnuts and reading a good book........ I have learnt to love it year after year and probably it has also a lot to do with the beautiful and bright colours that autumn leaves us as an amazing present every year during these autumn days.

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower”.

(Albert Camus)

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.”

(William Cullen Bryant)

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns".

(George Eliot)

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn".

(Elizabeth Lawrence)

"Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains,

a torch flung to the trees”.

(Faith Baldwin)

"Besides the autumn poets sing,

A few prosaic days

A little this side of the snow

And that side of the haze".

(Emily Dickinson)

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky,

which through the summer is not heard or seen,

as if it could not be, as if it had not been"

 (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me,

fluttering from the autumn tree” .

(Emily Bronte)

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.

For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad".

(Edwin Way Teale)

"Summer makes me drowsy. Autumn makes me sing.

Winter's pretty lousy, but I hate Spring".

(Dorothy Parker)

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor,

summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all”.

(Stanley Horowitz)

"Now autumn’s fire burns slowly along the woods

And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt".

(William Allingham)

"Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the

gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.”

(Langston Hughes)

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur

more frequently in memory than in life".

(P.D. James)

"Colorful leaves

cover the ground . . .

slackers with leaf blowers".

(Danny Power)

"The turkey on the table

gravy spills over

my mashed potatoes".

(Chelsi Huson)

SUMMER IS NEARLY OVER, BUT NOT YET!

Unfortunately summer is nearly over, but fortunately not yet! and as a little homage to my favourite season I have chosen some summer paintings from great painters of several styles and times to say goodbye to summer. I hope you enjoy them!

by John Richard

by Gustave Fisher

by Mary Cassatt

by Ernest Ange Duez

by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

 

by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

by Laura Knight

by Edgar Degas

by Donald Zolan

by Maxine Stevens

by Paul Gustave Fisher

by Auguste Renoir

by Walter Richard Sickert

by Mark Shasha

by Edward Potthast

by Alfred Stevens

by Vicente Palmaroli y Gonzalez

by Ernest Ange Duez

by John William Godward

by Sally Swatland

by Peter Severin Kroyer

 “A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawnmower is broken”.

 ( James Dent)

“In summer, the song sings itself”.

(William Carlos Williams)

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability” .

(Sam Keen)

 “Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world”. 

(Ada Louise Huxtable)

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer”.

(Albert Camus)

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language”.   

(Henry James)

“Warm summer sun, shine kindly here. Warm southern wind, blow softly here. Green sod above, lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear Heart,
Good night, good night.” 

(Mark Twain)

GRAPE HARVEST FESTIVALS IN SPAIN

La "Vendimia", known in English as “vintage”, refers to the process of picking the grapes and creating the finished product, that is, the WINE. Most grape harvests in Spain begin on the 21st of September, the day of Saint Matthew, though the actual vintage (grape collecting process) often starts a week early or late, depending on the weather conditions of the year and lasts around one month. This year the vendimia harvest season has come in advance in Spain, due to a warm spring, cool temperatures in July and to a very hot August. Every year, the harvest signals the end of the grape-growing season and after the work is done it is time to celebrate the good crop in style.

But how is the process of grape harvest about?

The process of harvesting is done by hand when the grade, colour and acidity of the grapes have reached the optimum level and individual grapes are selected based on their ripening estate.

To detach the grapes of the vine, it has to be used “corquete” (curved knives). During the harvest the grapes picker have to be very careful with all the material that comes into contact with the grapes, to be very clean and in perfect condition to prevent the grapes to be in touch with any agent which would alter its quality.

The fruit collected is placed in wicker baskets (with capacity 15 to 20 kg.) and wood containers (80 to 120 kg). These containers are loaded on trailers vintage tractors, making sure that the volume of grapes does not exceed 50 inches so that the grapes reach the winery whole without the fermentation process begis earlier than necessary. Once the grapes arrive at the winery, inmediately the long process of winemaking starts.

The grape harvest festivals that are held in many places in Spain offer a sample of what the work of wine is like and of its typical popular customs. And you can have the chance to see first-hand some of the tasks involved in the winemaking process. These include the traditional treading of the grapes and the tasting of the first must. Wine related events are often organised as well, such as tasting sessions, "al fresco" (in the open air)  meals or open days at wineries. The Rioja Grape Harvest Festivals and the Autumn Festivals are among the most famous ones, however you will find that these celebrations are held in many locations in each of Spain’s winemaking areas.

You will find many very good, quality wines in Spain which enjoy international prestige. A special time to enjoy this typically Spanish product is in early autumn and the festivities of the grape harvest are a great opportunity to participate in the traditions and ambience of the winemaking culture.

La "Vendimia" is also celebrated in other places such as France and Latin America, for example, in Argentina it is a national holiday and one of the most important.