I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew;
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.
Beyond the Sun, beyond the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.
– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
I have a confession to make: Ever since my parents read me The Hobbit as a bedtime story, I have been a Tolkien nerd. The Lord of the Rings still ranks on top of the list of my favourite books, I eagerly await each of Peter Jackson’s films – and will equally eagerly discuss where the film makers went wrong – and each autumn I think about Lothlórien, the elven realm where the mallorn trees grow. The leaves of the mallorn, just like the leaves of our trees, turn golden in autumn, but where our trees will drop their leaves before winter, the mallorn keeps its golden leaves until spring.
Can you blame me for dreaming of a world where beauty such as this will stay a little longer?
It makes me melancholy, the way there are signs everywhere now of change, transition and beauty’s loss.
But it’s hard to be melancholy for long in the face of such sunlight that we’ve been having, and I’ve been taking out my neglected dSLR and wallowed in golden sunlight and creamy, instantly viewable bokeh.
How are you enjoying your autumn? Tell us in the comments!
~ All the best from Jenny.
Oh my goodness. These are amazing!!
Aw, thanks Vanessa 🙂
Gorgeous golden color, Jenny! We’ve had a great autumn here, perfect temps and striking color. We are at the end of the season now…..hate to see it slip away.
Slipping away is exactly the phrase for it!
This autumn has been great here too, unseasonably warm and sunny, and I’m grateful for that even though it means that the contrast to winter will be all the greater.
“Can you blame me for dreaming of a world where beauty such as this will stay a little longer?”
For real! I know what you mean by this. I sometimes find this when I read beautiful books or go on a walk in a lovely place, like I did yesterday evening. Such beauty in this world! It can be so overwhelming that it sometimes aches. Tolkien’s contemporary and friend, C.S.Lewis, is the author of some books that bring this out in me. I’m talking of “The Chronicles of Narnia” of course! 🙂
What a blessing to be able to capture some of that beauty not only with your eyes but also with your lens!
I think we’re fortunate to feel that ache; it seems to make life all the more intense.
Narnia of course is high on my list of books that I love and re-read regularly, though they never did become quite such an integral part of me as Tolkien’s work.
These images are so beautiful Jenny! and I love your inspiration too, I was a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, although I haven’t read it in years!
You don’t stop being a Lord of the Rings fan if you ask me 🙂
Beautiful beautiful images! And with the lyrics by the lord of the rings. Fantastic. Now I have an earworm. Thanks for the inspiration <3
I’m very glad to hear that you were inspired. Thanks for commenting!
Yes! Yes! Yes!
🙂
absolutely gorgeous photos jenny!!
Thank you Christy 🙂 xo
So beautiful. That sumac photo is killing me.
Thanks Deirdre! I had to google ‘sumac’ to know which photo you meant, so I learned something new today as well, which is always something to strive for 🙂
Jenny… You had me at the first image…these are so lovely autum captures and makes me want to get out there…
Thank you, Gabriela 🙂 I hope you do get out into autumn, however it looks where you are!