Autumn's Glory in New England! ~ Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and Dean Park

Dean Park 

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

October 18, 2013

Dawn knew how I excited I was to see the autumn leaves, in all their glory. She brought me to the perfect place, along with her daughter and her pup. It was perfect and beautiful, and I couldn't have asked for more. I was in a state of deep gratitude, as I am sure you can imagine.

I'm going to let the music, and the words of the poets, take you through Dean Park in Shrewsbury.

Excerpt from Autumn, by John Clare (1821)

"The summer-flower has run to seed,
And yellow is the woodland bough;
And every leaf of bush and weed
Is tipt with autumn's pencil now.

And I do love the varied hue,

And I do love the browning plain;

And I do love each scene to view,

That's mark'd with beauties of her reign ...

… For every leaf, that twirls the breeze,

May useful hints and lessons give;

The falling leaves and fading trees

Will teach and caution us to live.

Beneath a yellow fading tree,
As red suns light thee, Autumn-morn,
In wildest rapture let me see
The sweets that most thy charms adorn.

O while my eye the landscape views,
What countless beauties are display’d;
What varied tints of nameless hues, —
Shades endless melting into shade.

A russet red the hazels gain,
As suited to their drear decline;
While maples brightest dress retain,
And in the gayest yellows shine … "

Autumn Fires, from A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons! 

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summers,

Fires in the fall!

My friend Dawn's little one, Cecilia ...

 

Excerpt from A Carol of Harvest for 1867

by Walt Whitman

A song of the grass and fields!
A song of the soil, and the good green grass!
A song no more of the city streets;
A song of the soil of the fields.

A song with the smell of sun-dried hay, where the nimble pitchers handle the pitch-fork;
A song tasting of new wheat, and of fresh-husk’d maize.

For the lands, and for these passionate days, and for myself,
Now I awhile return to thee, O soil of Autumn fields,
Reclining on thy breast, giving myself to thee,
Answering the pulses of thy sane and equable heart,
Tuning a verse for thee.

O Earth, that hast no voice, confide to me a voice!
O harvest of my lands! O boundless Summer growths!
O lavish, brown, parturient earth! O infinite, teeming womb!
O theatre of time, and day, and night!
A verse, to seek to see, to narrate thee.

For still upon this stage,

I acted God’s calm, annual drama;

Gorgeous processions, songs of birds,

Sunrise, that fullest feeds and freshens most the soul,

The heaving sea, the waves upon the shore, the musical, strong waves,

The woods, the stalwart trees, the slender, tapering trees,

The flowers, the grass, the lilliput, countless armies of the grass,

The heat, the showers, the measureless pasturages,
The scenery of the snows, the wind’s free orchestra,
The stretching, light-hung roof of clouds, the clear cerulean, 
and the bulging, silvery fringes,

The high dilating stars, the placid, beckoning stars,
The shows of all the varied soils, and all the growths and products,
The moving flocks and herds, the plains and emerald meadows,
These for all ages’, races’ witnessing … "

Dawn and Cecilia ...

Another beautiful tree on the road into the town center …

Shrewsbury Historic District

The district was added to the 

Nation Register of Historic Places, in 1976

via

Autumn in the North East, has a way of renewing your faith, in what (or whom) brought us all into being! The trees seem to scream, in astounding color, "Remember us for spring!" in shocking tones of cadmium, and vermillion, ochres, burn sienna and Indian red! It is like a last operatic gasp, before winter's slumber.

I remember, as a child, seeing photos in calendars, and poster prints, of some far off place. The photos would be titled, "Autumn's Glory" or "Autumn's Glow," but it didn't seem like it could be real! But then, I thought, It has to be real, because photos don't lie! 

This was before photoshop, and before I knew what could be done in a dark room. 

The thing is, in person, it really is something to behold, and difficult to capture. But it's also something you will never forget. 

Dawn's super sweet Boston terrier Bruschi (named for the baseball player)

This adorable house was right across the street from the little town center. Can you imagine living right there?

Dawn has told me, that the absolute height of color in Massachusetts, is Columbus Day weekend. Something to think about? ;)  

Remember the color changes from North to South, so keep that in mind for planning an autumnal visit! I arrived, just a few days later, and you can see how many leaves have already dropped. Of course, the leaves on the ground look beautiful too!

What looks like people, in the photo below, were actually scarecrows made by Girl Scout troops!

My Fry boots, that my niece gave me, while I was in New York! Perfect for stomping through the crunching leaves!

The Historic Congregational Church

Off we went to the cemetery in Millbury, and to buy witch hats and carve pumpkins!

Here I am in front of my favorite tree, in Dean Park. One happy chick!

Coming up! Cemeteries, witches, and off to see my 10th great grandmother's homestead. (I will give you a hint, that it has to do with some big ol' trials that happened, at the end of the 17th century!)

Blessings and light!

And a little more Yo Yo Ma, from YouTube!