Autumn in the Mountains: A Photo Essay, with Writing Prompts

It's Autumn, the time when the thoughts of many of us turn towards the mountains.  For your viewing pleasure, I present a virtual trip to the mountains.  Feel free to cue up your favorite mountain music.  And for those of you casting about for writing assignments, you might show your students these photos and ask them to create a soundtrack.

But for those of you who don't immediately think of your favorite mountain music, might I suggest some bluegrass?  Start with Ricky Skaggs, in his Kentucky Thunder incarnation.  Or Doc Watson.  Or Earl Scruggs.  You could start with the album The Three Pickers, which features the three of them.

Or just enjoy the silence.  Now, on to the photos.

Let's begin with an iconic shot of mountains, above.

Apples in their native habitat!

Apples for sale, on an apple highway of sorts.

Below, apple orchards on a distant hill.

Just because you see a farm for sale, God is not telling you to move to a North Carolina mountainside.  Not necessarily. 

For those of you looking for a writing prompt, ask what would be a clear sign from God.  The sign below?  Something else?  What would make you give up your current life and leave?

Below:  is it a colored leaf or sunlight sifting through foliage or a butterfly?

A writing prompt:  can you write an autumnal piece that doesn't mention leaves?  To see how one of the masters did it, read John Keats' "To Autumn."

Above:  the typical flaming leaves of Fall.

 Seasonal treats above--a traditional medium, a non-traditional presentation.

A writing prompt:  What do Jack-O-Lanterns tell us about ourselves, about the person who carved them, about our society?

And we drive away, away from one of the continent's spines, back to the edge of America.