By Lynn R. Mitchell
“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. So I have spent almost all the daylight hours in the open air.” -Nathaniel Hawthorne, October 10, 1842
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” – John Muir
“Autumn is the hush before winter.” -French Proverb
“It was one of the loveliest days in early autumn, and the general atmosphere had a tendency to subdue every feeling of the heart, and threw me in a thoughtful mood.” -Charles Lanman, “Musings,” 1840
“I woke up this morning, the wind blowing across my face, and I just had to look up above and thank somebody for this place. Because He must have been have been thinking ’bout me when He planted that very first dogwood tree. It’s where I want to be. Living in the sweet Virginia breeze.” -Robbin Thompson and Steve Bassett
“Going to the mountains is going home.” -John Muir
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
Highland County, Virginia
October 10, 2015