November Blues

It hits me suddenly. I'm scurrying around, trying to get pictures of the last golden leaves before they all fall and the world is bare. Suddenly, it hits me: the world IS bare, autumn IS over, and I'm spinning my wheels. I look at the last few days of pictures and realize that it's time to stop shooting foliage, because the foliage is gone.

I find myself catapulted through the five stages of grief. Denial is long past, I've been shooting brown grass for weeks. Anger has come and gone, usually directed at myself for not producing the same fabulous images I did in October. And I have bargained - If I just drive a little further, maybe It will last longer. Depression? Ah yes, that's usually the point when I wake up and notice that all is not well. I sleep through the alarm, close the blinds, and take two naps a day. I spend my time looking at all the pictures that aren't processed yet and mourning autumn's passing. The TV runs constantly, I eat carbs, I sit all day. So pathetic.

Now that I know where I am, there's only one way to go - acceptance!  Well, I'm having a problem with that one. I'll be happy when it snows, looking forward to picturing Christmas decorations and winter scenes. But November itself is just too cruel. Stick season. Gray and brown and dead. Time to hibernate.

Or maybe not. There are always seascapes.  And sunsets. And if, one of these frosty mornings, I happen to find ice on a pond or frost on a branch,  I will have to take a picture or ten.

Wednesday, with a storm offshore, the coastal waters were all churning with waves. I went to Scituate Light, on Boston's South Shore.  Couldn't find a vantage point to get the really big waves with the lighthouse, but there was a sliver of clearing in the western sky, so I stayed until dark. Beautiful sunset over the harbor. Beautiful light on the whitecaps. I could get used to this. And the really good news is that I don't need to get up at 3:30 or work until 9:00 to get sunrise and sunset shots!

Thursday morning I was up before dawn, aiming for a beach sunrise. Looked good from my balcony. By the time I got to the beach, clouds were piled up in the east.  I took a few pre-dawn photos and decided to take a walk. The sun never did break through the clouds but way up above, there was some good color. I had my 24-105mm lens with me, not wide enough to catch the sky plus the beach. But the clouds were bright enough to reflect in the water, and I loved the way it looked. So I shot some images, hand-held. Nice. I can accept this.