Autumn 2012 in Pictures

[Meatpie]

Two Adirondack chairs sit vacant on a dock along the misty shore of the Androscoggin River in Turner, Maine, Oct. 3, 2012, as the fall foliage nears peak color.

A man dressed as a polar bear speaks with another man during the autumn agriculture market in Minsk, Sept. 22, 2012.

Two swans swim on the river Spree in Berlin's Alt-Stralau district, Oct. 2, 2012.

Tourists gather on the Great Wall outside Beijing, Oct. 3, 2012. Major tourist destinations around China are witnessed travel peaks amid the eight-day Mid-autumn Festival and National Day holidays, Xinhua News Agency reported.

A couple lights up a lantern during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, Hong Kong, Oct. 1, 2012.

A calf and cow wait in a pasture, Sept. 29, 2012 before joining the Desalpe near Charmey.

People take shelter from the rain at a bus stop in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Sept. 24, 2012. Autumn brought rain and sinking temperatures to the region.

The Krasnoyarsk hydro electric power station and dam is surrounded with colourful autumn foliage of the Siberian taiga, some 45 km (28 miles) south of the city of Krasnoyarsk, Sept. 22, 2012. The dam and power station on the Yenisei River, one of the world's largest hydro electric projects, was completed in 1972

Ears of field corn lay in piles along a roadside during the autumn corn harvest on a farm on the edge of Kaesong, North Korea. It has been a tough year for North Korea's farmers, who grappled with an extended dry spell in the spring, followed by heavy rains from a series of summer storms and typhoon. The U.N. is launching a field mission across North Korea to gauge the state of the food situation.

Weightlifter Jonathan Walker, from Harrogate, poses as he lifts a marrow weighing 119 lbs 12 ounces, which won the Giant Marrow Class in the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, Sept. 14, 2012 in Harrogate, England. The giant marrow was grown by Peter Glazebrook, from Newark, who won all six classes in the giant vegetable competition during the show at The Great Yorkshire Showground.

 

[farbendc]

So how about some pictures of fall in Bulgaria? Is it as beautiful as the picture of Maine?

 

[Meatpie]

Sorry, no fall here yet....due to global warming everything here is still lush green, flowers are blooming grass is growing like it's spring. Older people say this is absolutely not normal.

Days are definately getting shorter though and winter will be brutal, last year was the coldest on record with snow several metres high.

No cars trucks or buses could travel between cities, empty shelves at the supermarket, was really scary.

 

[farbendc]

Scary indeed! I had no idea Bulgaria was hit so hard last winter. I live in the midwest in the US and we had one of the mildest winters on record. It was truly weird... it rained more than it snowed, and we usually get a healthy amount of snowfall. It's not uncommon to get between 10-20 cm when it snows. Of course that's nothing like the northern climes or mountainous regions, but still, people bundle up and it seems bleak and barren like winter usually is. Fall is going strong right now, but due to the lack of rainfall, and the extreme heat over the summer, our usually gorgeous trees have thrown in the towel with unimpressive color. I hope for your sake your predictions of a terrible winter are off the mark. Empty supermarket shelves is just a little too creepy/scary. Maybe you should get a small chest freezer and stock up just in case? Then you could be a tv dinner baron and ply handsome men with promises of frozen lasagne and pizza rolls--and when the freezer eventually emptied, you could keep your houseguests fresh.