The King of Autumn

It is October 30 as I write this. I think I'll probably post it on Monday November 2. On October 28, I stopped the bike and took some video of a tree that I have come to think of as "The King of Autumn". It is not an impressively large tree, but big enough, I guess. Situated near the middle of a small, out of the way park near Wellington Road, this thing had achieved an orange "glow" that I have never seen before and that kind of blew me away. I'm not a full-time nature junkie or tree hugger, but once in a while I'll see something that kind of feeds the spirit, if you will. This tree was one of those things. Despite a thick carpet of leaves beneath it, it still looked nice and full, right up to the top. When I got home, I plugged the camera into the computer and couldn't remember anything notable happening on the ride, so I just deleted all the files. I do this all the time. No big deal.


On October 29, I rode on streets only due to time demands. I still hadn't realized that I had deleted my King of Autumn video.


This morning as I cleared the camera's files once more, I remembered the King of Autumn, and resolved to ride by and take some pictures instead, because they would be more impressive than video. When I got to the tree, it didn't look anywhere near as good. The King had lost his Crown, and was thin-to-bare on all but the lowest branches. With so many leaves fallen, the glow was gone. I was really disappointed, thinking to myself, "damn, I really wanted to post on this. Ah well, maybe next year." I rode away kind of bummed out, without having taken any pictures. I thought about how quickly some beautiful things can pass: Blink, and you might miss 'em.


I stayed bummed out until I resolved to write this post describing what had happened, and to take pictures of the less impressive King anyway, which I did on the way home. I have heard that the colours achieved by trees in the fall can vary from year to year depending on what kind of summer it has been. If the King fails to achieve the same wondrous hue next year, I would have missed my one chance to share it with anybody, and that would suck worse than showing the tree in something less than its full glory. So here it is:

Try to imagine those low branch colours all over the whole tree, although it's a "you had to be there" thing, I'm afraid.

The King is Shed! Long Live the King!

R A N T W I C K

PS - I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on the King of Autumn next Fall in the hopes of catching it at its very best.

PPS - This post ended up spawning a big fat foliage contest. Click here for the 2010 FARATS posts!

FARATS News - Timing Is Everything

FARATS, the First Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown, is hitting a critical time. The picture you see above is not The King, but it is one of his near neighbours.

As you can see, The King is strong in comparison. What is that almost naked tree? A jester? His Queen? Who knows? Thanks to a windy Fall in most of North America, getting that great shot of a super tree has been challenging (I stole this observation from Cafiend of Citizen Rider). Even The King was hard to get a good picture of, and I was visiting every couple of days. Yesterday it was clear that The King had passed his peak of foliage related glory for this season. Something funky happened to my camera memory and I have no pics, but trust me, he's on his way down for this year. Thank goodness I caught him on what I consider his best day about a week ago.

Brace yourselves, because what follows is my official FARATS entry:

Think you can beat it? To be honest, The King looks good, but I strongly suspect that someone will topple him. In a way, that's good, because I've laid hands on the prize for the winner!

I won't lie... when I located the prize I also bought some for myself. I have tasted it and it is everything I had hoped. Jakeman's has been voted best tasting maple syrup in Canada in recent years and always places in the top ranks of most maple syrup ranker's rankings. So, the prize is a small amount (100 mL, 3.4 fl. oz.) of pure Canada #1 Extra Light maple syrup (click here to see how freaky I am about it) from one of Canada's top producers, located only about 30 minutes from my home of London Ontario.

Don't let the tiny plastic jug (rather than decorative glass) fool you... one thing I have learned about syrup is that light affects it somehow. I forget how, but it does. So there. I purchased this prize right at Jakeman's retail store, amidst (or is it among?) some of the very trees that offered up this divine elixir. I am happy to say that in all the vast variety of tinned, bottled, jarred, candied, ice-wined and other maple-ized products, this was the ONLY one that said "Our very finest" on it. Done deal. I don't like to use crude language on this blog, but I'm sorry, this stuff is the shit.

Tell me, do you want some? Send your best tree picture to rantwick at gmail dawt com (if you don't know what I mean there, you are too stupid to enter my contest no matter how great your tree is) or link to it in the comments on any of my posts. One or just a few trees only in your picture please, since I can't have a whole forest ganging up on The King. Deadline is Dec 15. I'm gonna post pics of entries as they come in, but on Dec 16 a page will go up with all entrants and a way of voting for your favourite. After a voting period ending early in 2011, the winner will receive the aforementioned maple-y awesomeness.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - Some nice people I know have expressed an interest in sending me pictures of trees that are not official entries for the contest. Bring 'em on! Got an awesome mountainside of foliage madness? I'll post them with pleasure; just not in the official vote for trees post on Dec 16. Knowing this, it would be wise to be very clear that your official entry is indeed your official entry in your email or comment.

2021 King of Autumn

There are 3 blog posts between this post and the King of Autumn post from last year. All evidence points to my pretty much stopping with this blog. However, I still have a great deal of affection for it and the people I've met* through it.

I was late getting this year's photo because my commute hasn't taken me that way in a great while due to seemingly never ending road work.

Anyway here's the king:

While I in the park taking this photo, some guy walking his dog told me that I must see a red tree doing a fun colour change from the top down a couple of blocks away. Not one to ever turn down a good tree tip, here's that one:

I didn't want to let Autumn go by without keeping my tradition of posting the King, but I must admit I'm not pleased with this half-assed effort. No matter what I'm doing or not doing with the blog, I will endeavor to catch the King at his best next year.

One reason I'm not writing as much is that my creative outlets have shifted into more guitar playing and singing (which was difficult after my brain thing but is still getting better all the time) and making things out of old bikes. Remember that Trek 520 I painstakingly documented the building of? There was something up with the fork or frame that I was never able to properly correct, but made it ride funny. As a result I later converted it into wind chimes and a lamp, of course. I posted the chimes on etsy and they sold almost right away for a fairly high price, which has led to me trying more stuff. My efforts are sometimes clumsy or crude or misguided, but I'm just learning as I go, having fun and trying to sell the stuff anyway. If you're interested, take a look at my store on etsy here. 

Have a spooky good Halloween!

R A N T W I C K

*in a correspond or reply to on the Internet sense; I have never made the effort to actually meet people in person. I know some people use their online lives to strengthen or make more exciting their real existence. Not me. I kind of like keeping those things separate.

The King of Autumn, 2015

Hello there! I'm in a rush but wanted to touch base with the old blog, you know, so I'm just gonna pay homage to the King of Autumn now that that the leaves are mostly gone.

Here's the best shot I was able to get this year:

The King - October 23

What was interesting to me was that the outer leaves were that bright orange, but the inner ones were an awesome glowy yellow green...

I wondered how that would play out, but I didn't make it back before he was TOTALLY NAKED!

The King Is Shed! Long Live The King! - November 9

I'm hoping to have the time and energy to revive the Autumn Tree Smackdown next year. I'm thinking a nice flexible name that I can use over and over without worrying about a new acronym or numbering system would be good, like the "Sort Of Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown", or SOARATS. I think that has a nice ring, even though for me it also brings to mind high-flying rats.

Rather than leaving you with that mental image, SnowFace and Mrs. Rantwick wanted to say hi, so here they are instead:

Well Hello There!

I am SO PLEASED that Mrs. Rantwick is the one with the buggy eyes...

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

SARATS Disease

I will never enter any tree other than The King in my Autumn Tree Smackdown, for good or ill. Still, now that SARATS season has rolled around, I notice individual trees more than I normally would, so much so that I'm beginning to see things.

For example, this tree looked like it was doing a "Don King":

You know, Don King, the Boxing Promoter?

Can you see it?

How about now?

Hmmm. Judging by that little episode perhaps it would be OK if SARATS season went by quickly.

As I finished this post I thought, "Oh no, what if Don King recently died or something? That would be in pretty bad taste." It has happened before on this blog. Just so youse all know, Don King is alive and presumed well (no mention of anything on wikipedia, anyway) at the age of 80. No freaky foliage faux pas today, my friends! 

Yer Pal, R A N T W I C K

2010 Fall Foliage Smackdown - Update

Response to the First Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown (FARATS) has been very good so far. There are rumblings from all over that make me fear for The King. Correspondence from many of you, including this disturbingly beautiful non-entry (because there are so many trees and it is from last Fall) from Corey all make me wonder if my best tree is going to hold up.

Oct 2009, Moab

Despite all of this, the King seemed quite unconcerned this morning:

I'm still percolating on what to select for the prize. I don't want to use Canadian Tire money again, but I'm finding it hard to come up with something nearly valueless yet worth receiving.

Keep your eyes peeled and cameras ready. I would suggest holding off on making an entry until you feel confident you have taken what will be your best shot of the season. When you are ready to submit, please make it clear that this is your official entry and not just a warning shot to strike fear into my heart.

When taking pictures of The King on my way into work this morning, I couldn't resist a gratuitous pic of my bike hangin' with The King:

BFFs

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

The King of Autumn - 2016

Well, I didn't get around to taking a picture of the King this year until he was starting to go bald, but for what's it's worth, here he is:

For those of you who aren't familiar, I dubbed this tree the King of Autumn years ago. He was the starting point of an annual foliage contest, the Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown! That contest is currently on hiatus lazicus (look it up in the rantwick-to-latin dictionary) and may well see a revival in 2017, but obviously I'm to late too do it this year.

Anyway, it was a weird year because many leaves were falling away while the lower boughs were still green. At least the King didn't look like these jokers in the same park...

I mean, what was going on with these weirdos I wonder? When I retrieved this photo from my phone, it reminded me that I had a something else I wanted to write up about that little photo stop. Since it is really just some trivial ramblings, I have just now decided that they MUST be included in this post! 

Just past the right edge of this picture sat the Rantwick family car containing Mrs. and Daughter Rantwick, who were patiently waiting for me. Just past the left edge of this picture were a couple of young girls doing cartwheels and saumersalts and stuff. Like this:

When I got back to the car my wife and daughter said they were glad I hadn't lingered around or taken too many pictures. You know why? They said a middle aged guy on his own taking pictures in a park anywhere near children was creepy. I don't know what made me more sad, the fact that anyone would think that about a simple tree nut like me or the fact that I saw their point. We live in a fearful and cynical time; I can't claim to know where reasonable caution ends and paranoia begins, but it seems to me that most of us are more afraid than we need to be. Then again, tell that to a victim of somebody awful. Urg. Have I got you completely bummed out yet? I've brought myself down pretty good, gotta say.

On the brighter side, I got to draw thisand this for this blog post, which was fun. As easy as it is to search up an image of whatever you want these days, I still take great pleasure in making things like this from scratch. Anyway, that's it for now and I hope to be posting again soon. Thanks so much for stopping and reading this!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Life Is So Good

I worry about all kinds of things; work, money, family... I'm as stressed out as many other people. But I stretched out my commute this morning for the first time in ages and it had that excellent brain-tonic effect that I have always been so grateful to cycling for. The weather was perfect, kind of cool-warm-damp-but-not-raining perfect. The path and its surroundings looked beautiful despite half of the leaves being gone. I had other reasons to be in a good mood too... FARATS entries have started to show up!

Before I show you those, though, I want to show you the gift The King bestowed upon me (for my undying allegiance, I suppose) after I paid him a visit and took this photo:

The top 3/4 of The King's branches are now completely bare. Anyway, that sneaky King stuck a leaf on my shoe. Several kilometres away from him, I looked down to find he was still with me:

The King's mark remains stuck to my shoe even as I write this:

Just call me Captain Canada, or Mr. Maple! I have made no effort to keep the leaf on there, but I have been reasonably careful not to dislodge it. I wonder how long it will stay there? I will report diligently on this matter of grave importance, I promise.

Like I said I've got one (possibly two) FARATS entries to show you. The first is from Kokorosashi of my beautiful machine:

The subject of his email to me was "FARATS entry -- woot!", and here's some info he provided about the tree:

Hallo!
Fall has finally ... finally ... arrived in Kentuckiana. Sadly, my best prospect lost most of its leaves in the course of one gusty night -- so here's my runner-up, from the campus of Indiana University Southeast, just over the river in New Albany, IN, where I go to school.
I believe that what this tree lacks in substance, it makes up in style, with its beautiful dark bark and flame-red leaves :D
Hope you're having a good Fall up there in Canada!

Woot indeed! Thanks, man.

The next picture was not considered an entry by its sender, by I'm thinking I may enter it anyway, because the photo is just so nice. I don't have a copy of the pic to post here, but it can be found by clicking this link. This one was courtesy of Keri from Commute Orlando, who said:

Well, I can't really submit an entry. Our deciduous trees go from green to brown to bare. Some of the maples get a hint of dark red. It's rarely enough to make the entire tree grand, but just for your enjoyment, here's a photo for you.And now I will enjoy autumn vicariously through you :-)

Keri, if you want to enter that picture, I will happily throw it in the mix... faced with very little tree to work with, you sent me something great, and I only stipulated that I didn't want bunches of trees. There's nothing preventing small parts of them from being considered. Think of the maple-y goodness on the line and let me know.

More, I want More!

R A N T W I C K

PS - Having served its purpose, the leaf fell off my shoe at approximately 12:55 PM Eastern. I know because I have been staring at it non-stop ever since clicking the "Publish" button. I'm gonna go find some eye drops; you enjoy your afternoon.

PPS - Keri has indicated that she would be happy to enter her picture in the contest! Here it is!

Tough Times and Tasty Trees

First, let me say how sorry I am for being rather absent lately. I have slowed down many times over the last couple of years, but never like this. I really really like writing stuff for this blog, yet I have found that lately it has been quite impossible. Nothing bad has befallen me or my family, so that's not the reason. Work and Life have yet again just taken priority.

That said, some bloggy things are just too vitally important to forgo. I am of course speaking of the Second Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown!

I have been blown off my my usual riding routines by the winds of annoying work-related bull***t and thus have not photographed the King of Autumn yet, but I most certainly will in time to make my own entry.

If any of you are still with me, please find that smokin' good Autumn tree, because this year there will be just one prize for the big winner. The prize will be some kick-butt maple syrup again, but it will be in greater quantity and the same top-notch stuff offered last year. If you know any other Foliage Freaks, well c'mon, send them this way!

The voting for the best tree will be by an unbiased panel of judges to be revealed a little later on... you'll just have to tune in to find out who.

Sticking with last year's format, please send me your pictures of Autumn trees giving us a show. I would prefer shots of one or just a few trees, since even The King can't reasonably defeat a whole mountainside of fall colour. Pictures must also be of this (2011's) season of leafy goodness, since I hope to do this annually until I don't want to any more. That said, all pictures of fall foliage are welcome. Submissions will be accepted until Dec 15, 2011. I'll post the pictures here as they come in, and then the voting by my mysterious panel of judges will occur. Winner to be announced early in the new year.

For those of you who thought you might escape the wrath of the King of Autumn, it is definitely ON. Let's rock.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

PS - For anyone who doesn't know what the hell I'm on about, click here for the 2010 FARATS posts.

TARATS is a SMACKDOWN

I feel like there wasn't nearly enough fanfare about TARATS (the Third Annual Rantwick Autumn Tree Smackdown) in my initial post. I mean, this isn't about a bunch of tree huggers taking pictures and being all nice, you know. This is a SMACKDOWN. With Autumn trees. And the people are usually kind of nice and some may actually hug trees on a regular basis. But make no mistake, people, it IS a SMACKDOWN.

I have decided that the prize will be something else entirely this year. The winning tree will be crowned 2012's King (or Queen, if you want) of Autumn, a title formerly reserved for my perennial favourite (pun intended) alone! A used Trophy from some thrift shop, hand-modified by yours truly, will be sent to the lucky soul who captures for posterity the image of the most majestic juggernaut of Autumn leafy joy witnessed this year! It's gonna be AWESOME! Click HERE for rules and stuff.

Since this is a SMACKDOWN, I strongly encourage all entrants to talk as much over-the-top trash as possible (all in good fun, of course) and demoralize their opponents if they can. Let me get things started:

I stopped by to visit the King of Autumn this morning and let me tell you, he looked good. Green, but obviously gearing up for this year's competition:

Can you see that? He's flexing his foliage! What? What? You don't see it? Look again, and be very afraid of my tree, baby. He's gonna chew you all up and keep the title of King of Autumn all for his majestic unbeatable self:

That, for those of you that don't recognize it, is proper SMACKDOWN talk. I hope it puts you in the mood to bring some badass fall foliage action this way...

Share this image with yer friends and let's get ready to leaf it up, hard!

R A N T W I C K

PS - I know I am ridiculous. It's fun. I also think that "poster" qualifies as a WTF attack... cool.

A True SARATS Threat

I visited The King on my way home yesterday. He's showing signs of change. It's too early to tell, but if he suits up in Orangy Yellow like the first time I wrote about him, look out. Here he is:

Thanks to my being less active on the blog, I fear there may be fewer submissions this year, which only increases your chances of winning a smallish (but not tiny like last year) jug of the best maple syrup I've ever had. What follows is an excerpt from the 2010 contest:

I won't lie... when I located the prize I also bought some for myself. I have tasted it and it is everything I had hoped. Jakeman's has been voted best tasting maple syrup in Canada in recent years and always places in the top ranks of most maple syrup ranker's rankings. So, the prize is a small amount (100 mL, 3.4 fl. oz.) of pure Canada #1 Extra Light maple syrup (click here to see how freaky I am about it) from one of Canada's top producers, located only about 30 minutes from my home of London Ontario.

 

This year the prize will be 500 mL of that same outstanding tree nectar.
 

If you're not a totally selfish maple prize freak though, you may want to tell your foliage lovin' friends. Now that I no longer participate in facebookizing or tweetilating, maybe you could do it on my behalf. Or send some emails. Or bring SARATS up at dinner parties, club rides, drug orgies, political demonstrations, church gatherings, whatever. I just wanna see some trees. If you know of some website where foliage rules, let me know, and I'll try to invite even more people.

Stay Leafy, R A N T W I C K

PS - If my impartial panel of judges (whom you will all see when the time comes) chooses The King as the best tree, I would of course award the prize to 2nd place. If you couldn't tell, I've got a good feeling about The King this year.

First Annual RANTWICK Autumn Tree Smackdown

Autumn, what I consider the best cycling season of all, is almost upon us. This post, however, isn't about cycling. Last year in October I did a post about a remarkable tree here in London Ontario that I dubbed "The King of Autumn". Some comments on that post prompted me to promise a competition next year. Well, next year is here, and with it the First Annual RANTWICK Autumn Tree Smackdown! I have no idea if The King will be as brilliant as last year, but I'm putting him up against all comers. He is not tipping his hand at all yet:


Please send me your pictures of Autumn trees giving us a show. I would prefer shots of one or just a few trees, since even The King can't reasonably defeat a whole mountainside of fall colour. That said, all pictures of fall foliage are welcome. Submissions will be accepted until Dec 15, 2010. I'll post the pictures here and then we can all vote on the winner over the Christmas season, with votes being collected until Jan 1, 2011. I haven't come up with a prize yet, but I can promise you it will be something of dubious value.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

King Schming

Wow man. I thought the King would rule. I have taken many photos of my favourite tree this fall, hoping to dominate the foliage frenzy over at anniebikes.

 

No such luck. I must have known deep in my sappy bones that this would be a lackluster year and bailed on the smackdown as a result. Or it is just coincidence. One of those.

 

Anyway, if you want to see how the King looks this year, check out anniebikes. He will be posted there sooner or later, or so I have been led to believe.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

I'm Seeing Red.

In last year's Autumn Tree Smackdown I received my first entry on October 12. This year it seems to me the trees in London are peaking a little sooner. The King, for example, is getting close to maximum crimson:

 

 

If I can catch him in the right light, I think he's got a good chance of "winning"; although I won't allow myself to win the contest. If he garners the most votes, the runner-up will win the awesome second-hand Rantwick-modified Trophy of Arboreal Distinction naming the tree King Of Autumn, 2012. I have also just decided to throw in a tub of breadcrumbs.

 

The "real" winner of FARATS (long story) was yellow/orange:

 

 

 

 

SARATS was won by a well-lit red tree:

 

 

 

What robes will the new King (or Queen) wear as he (or she) ascends the throne? Only time will tell.

 

Having seen these images, I'll bet you know of a tree that could be a contender. Don't wait! Get out there and get that picture! Hover around that tree, day after day, hoping to get the best damn foliage picture EVER! Or, snap a pic of it on your way by with a crappy old phone while riding your bike over bumps. I don't care! I want submissions, (click here for rules) and I'm getting nervous. I want to beat last year's record of 18 real bad.

 

 

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K