Upon the windowpanes

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes.

~ T.S. Eliot

It is so foggy here this morning! Almost 11 o'clock in the morning and still it hasn't cleared. As cold and as grey as it is, though, there is something quite magical, mystical and otherworldly about fog. Out driving this morning, I thought to myself "Anything could be on the other side of this!" And of course, the only thing on the other side of the fog was exactly what I had expected to be there but it's the promise of a whole other dimension emerging through the grey-white gloom that makes fog so appealing (or scary, depending on your point of view!)

Having a nose around on the Web just now, I've found some lovely Australian paintings all about fog.

Morning Fog by Janice Gumbleby. Available for sale at www.madeit.com.au

South West Fog 2 by Kathryn Ryan. Image from http://www.timolsengallery.com/

 

Passing Trams by Clarice Beckett. Image from http://agsa-colo.netspot.com.au/agsa/home/

Keefers Jetty by Clarice Beckett. Image from http://www.diggins.com.au/?artist=clarice-beckett

Autumn

We are in the midst of autumn here in the South (Hemisphere, that is) and autumn is always especially lovely around our way. In fact, it's my favourite season. Today, for example, it was delightfully foggy in the morning and then a sort of misty haze hung over the city for most of the day. A lot of people don't like fog, I'm sure, but being the overly thoughtful type that I am, I love it for a couple of kinda wishy-washy reasons. Or, at least, I love it in the safe confines of our urban environment. I probably wouldn't be too mad on it if I was driving on a dangerous, winding road or being pursued by Jack-the-Ripper through 19th century London. But since I was doing neither of those things this morning as I stood on the doorstep, it made me smile. It envelops otherwise familiar (and sometimes dreary) scenes in an air of mystery, indeed, of mysticism. Above is a photo I took on my phone as I walked up from the train station this afternoon. It captures just what I like about autumn; the stark loveliness of the trees and the clear, almost brittle, blue skies.