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This time of year…people like to imagine…beautiful calendar pictures of colorful Autumn leaves…..

…..limited-palettes of oranges and reds and russets and gold…..

That wonderful smell of nuts and falling leaves…..

Harvest moons…and preparations for the winter to come…..

…..but what do we get down here in the swamp…?…lots and lots of brown leaves…..

…..we get spores and mushrooms and toadstools…(heavy on the toads)…..

Autumn months in rural Florida are nothing like picturesque New England…..

…..not by a long shot…..

The swamp algae is starting to change colors…a bit…maybe a little more brownish…a little less vibrant/glowing green…..

…..the red maple leaves do turn…red…but it doesn’t seem to be around Autumn…just kind of whenever they want to…..

But the local flora (which mostly consists of Spanish Moss…algae…scum…and fungi)…..

…..it basically stays the same color…..

…..brown and gray and sodden-sepia…..

There is a smell of end-of-summer-decay…..

…..oh…wait…..

…that’s just mold…and it’s here all year long…except for that one cold day somewhere in January or February…and then it smells like…cold mold…..

Do I sound jaded…?…

…..you bet’cha…..

I miss the traditional Autumns of up North…..

I miss the hard cider (my Dad made GREAT hard cider…in old crocks…in our basement in Ohio)…and the cornstalk sheaves…and the candied-cinnamon apples on a stick (my Grandma made the best)…..

Most people don’t even have basements here in sunny Florida…(they would fill with water)…..

But we do have mushrooms…lots of varieties…..

…..and we have loads of algae…and fungi………….lots and lots of fungi…..

In a couple months the Swamp Iris will start blooming…(I’m not kidding…it’s a thing)…..

*****(~~~Swamp Iris~~~)*****

And pretty soon I’ll be able to start fires in our fireplace again…(that’s a perk for a latent-pyromaniac)…..

…..(Note To Self—the stacked firewood in the back is all wet & moldy—be careful where you put your hands when grabbing a log——-you know——-snakes & fire ants)…..

…..ahhhhh…serene/country life in rural/sunny Florida…..

…..(I gotta go find some real/home-made hard cider)…..

 

 

 

#ohio #ohioautumn

#swampiris

#redmaole #floridafungus #hardcider #cinnamoncandyapples #toadstools #fungi #algae