Day is done, gone the sun and the summer as well.

Today we had one of those bonus days you sometimes get in the Fall with a lovely azure backdrop and temperatures rising at least to the 70s. It was an opportunity to get outside and soak up the vitamin D while doing more cleanup to prepare for the winter months. The colors have been spectacular this year and it is hard to pull out those annuals while we still get days like today. As you can see, the petunias put on their pleading faces and they got a stay of execution.



As I was dragging my weary body upstairs to change out of my dirty gardening clothes I glanced out the window and saw the sunset was just as pretty as the day. My photo does not do justice to the sky but I liked the way the jet trails were all lit with pink.

Lastly, I know a picture is better than a thousand words, but I am not bold enough to take a photo of a playful dog and his owner who live just up the street (I'll try to keep the description under the thousand words however). This spunky dog is perhaps a couple of years old and several times lately as we pass by walking our dog we see the dog and his owner out on the front lawn playing soccer together. Nothing unusual you might be thinking. But the dog is a tiny scrap of a thing, a Yorkie, and the ball is bigger than he is. The man gently kicks the ball and the Yorkie darts around barking with delight. It is a sight to behold.

Look up, look up!

Driving home one day at the end of October I glanced at the sky and noticed how dramatic the golden yellow maple tree looked. I dashed inside and grabbed my camera to capture the moment in the minutes before a drenching rain.
Surprisingly, I got my photo shot and the clouds moved on with narry a drop of rain.
And here, among some trees I had been observing the changes in each day, the fallen leaves reveal a penthouse apartment for a squirrel. When the leaves are on the trees and the wind blows, that tree really sways. And now the leaves are off? I hope that squirrel has laid in a supply of Dramamine (motion sickness remedy) along with the acorns and walnuts for the winter months.

A visit from the painter

Way back in April I sought input about what to do about the newly built screen around the ac units.
This week, the deed is done. The screen now matches the newly refinished deck. Once the spring and summer come back and flowers begin to appear in front of the screen it will soften even further. But for now, well, Jack Frost junior has already visited and the plants are looking scraggly. Basil is still trying to hang in there but his days are numbered as Jack Frost himself is due any day now.

The colors of nature

A few weekends ago I went on a tour of the studios of local artists when I got the opportunity to speak one on one with several artists and hear how they see their surroundings. Now when I am out and about with my camera I'm trying to make vignettes or look at color combinations

Just look at the wonderful colors combined here with the crepe myrtle in the foreground and the New England asters behind.
Now you get the rich brown shot of color from the deck and the fall colors of the crepe myrtle with a last gasp of an almost lime green basil leaning to the left paired with the darker green of the rosemary to the right while just edging in on the extreme left is the dried lemon grass.


Last night we had a speaker (Ricki Silva) come to our quilt meeting. At one point she had a slide up showing a sunrise and she mentioned looking at that glory of nature and wanting to take her scissors and snip out a piece of that sky color to add into the quilt she was planning.


I can "see" a quilt in this lineup of autumn plants outside a nearby landscaper's storefront.Which plant shall I take the clippers to and add to my fabric stash?

More seasonal color

Over the weekend Fall really lived up to it's name. The big maple tree above this tableau just let go and there is leaf confetti galore.
While taking the dog for a walk this afternoon I spotted this great variety of autumnal colors. I just loved the way those two "volunteer" trees are peeking through the row of green and have put on their brightest color to make sure they are not overlooked.
And lastly, a few of the chrysanthemums in my front garden. A week or so ago I got really aggressive and pulled out/trimmed back a big lot of the very faded (summertime) black eyed susans and now you can have a much better view of the October flowers in this plot.

Ode to the season

I was away all weekend at a quilt retreat. As I drove out on Friday I thought how magnificent the fall colors were on the trees but that since heavy wind and rain was predicted for Saturday I would not likely get any good photos. But when I arrived home late Sunday afternoon I was lucky enough to have a few minutes of good conditions to take these photos. Look how dramatic the viburnum looks just to the right of the sidewalk in the photo above.
This shows the kousa dogwood tree with it's autumn clothes on. Some of the leaves have turned dry at the edges and curled up and I thought it made for a great image.
And here we are looking further down the street. In the foreground are the seed heads from the black eyed susan blooms that I like to leave up for the birds to feast on.

It's a glorious Fall day

A couple of days ago I looked out my window and thought I should take a photo of the very beginnings of the leaf change color on this big maple tree. But then we had a day of high winds and the leaves looked very windblown indeed. But today is a wonderful day so I did get this photo afterall.
When I first looked out the window this morning the back garden seemed alive with birds. Of course the act of getting my camera, raising the window, removing the screen and then snapping the photo chased some of the birds away. But if you look closely here you can see at least three robins. Before I took the photo three starlings had been in this birdbath at the same time (unusual for the birds to share like that) and they had splashed out a lot of water.

The dogwood is also putting on it's Fall clothes.

The big leaf plant in the left foreground is one of my rhubarb plants. I just picked quite a few stalks yesterday so it is a little smaller now than it was.