Monday, October 29, 2012

A Nippy Sunday Walk

Here we are already at what Bill Bryson calls "the winter end of October". The biting wind is back, and nighttime temps have been dropping into the low 20s. My tomatoes (and basil) are living under tarps AND blankets just now - but soon I'll have to face the inevitable and offer them up to the dying year.

I have a slight cold -  not a miserable one, but bad enough to justify lots of hot tea and crocheting, and just achy and stuffy enough to keep me off the bike. But by Sunday afternoon I am in dire need of fresh air and movement (and blog material) so I set out for a walk on an old railroad grade trail that leads out of town.

The trail starts just a few blocks away: around two corners, past a small factory, and down what looks like a sandy drive...


...which leads to a boat landing (pulled up on shore for now) and a warning sign:

"Exotic Species Advisory" 

Boaters are instructed to watch for, and remove from boats and trailers, Eurasion Watermilfoil (uh-oh, Stephanie) and Curly-Leaf Pondweed. These non-native aquatic plants are harmful to the local environment, and can be spread from lake to lake by boats that haven't been properly cleaned between outings.

The small lake (one of two in our village) is covered with smoothly rippling waves:


And now for the trail, which at its start runs along a charming wire fence. (How can barbed wire be charming? I don't know - but sometimes it is.)


To my right are tiny dells full of ghostly milkweed-gone-to-seed...


...and goldenrod preserving itself against the winter.


The lake at my right tails off into grassy marshland.


A deer starts up and runs down the path ahead of me, its white tail waving back and forth like a metronome. (Alas, too quick for a photo - the deer I mean.)

The trail dips and meanders and soon reaches the railroad grade proper, where it levels out and heads west under an avenue of trees.


The ground is carpeted with oak leaves and tiny, flower-like dried grasses.


What's this? Time was, you could walk for miles on this trail. Apparently someone has bought the railroad grade and is unwilling to share.


Guess it's time to turn back. Now I have the sun behind me, so I'm hoping to see things I didn't notice on the way out. Here's the first (I love the blurry background on this shot):


The trail is dotted with dried knapweed. Flower heads, as above, and seed heads:


I love knapweed seed heads - they remind me a bit of the pineapple motif so common in Colonial times. While editing the above photo, I accidentally turned the saturation way up and was amazed by the result:


(I don't usually post tweaked photos, but I had to post this. I love the sparks of violet, the way the colours are brought to life, and the bargello-like effect of the sky above the brush.)

Another leaf, standing out from its darker cousins:


Shadow shot!


Back on the wavy portion of trail, grass flows like water over a low bank:


More goldenrod curls up against the cold:


Thousands of keys dangle from a tree I can't identify:


(Some kind of ash? Must really work on my tree knowledge by learning to observe things besides leaves, of which this tree has none.)

Here's another shot with a slightly clearer view of the twig. (The leaf scars are opposite but that's about all I know):


Oh for the days when botany was a standard part of the educational curriculum! :)

At this point I realize how tired I am (dang, I'm not that sick), how chilly my fingertips, and how much time has elapsed since the last cup of tea and the last meal. Straight on for home now, pausing only to snap these ghosts of maple leaves on the sidewalk in town:


A good tramp through rustling leaves under bright blue autumn skies, made better by the thought of a warm home and a hot dinner. And the cold air has opened my stuffy nasal passages - I can breathe through both sides of my nose again! (At least for now.) Of such small blessings does wealth consist. :)

P.S. As I finish writing this post on a clear, sunny Monday morning, the East Coast is being lashed by Hurricane Sandy. May all be sheltered from the wind and rain, and come safely through the storm.

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24 comments:

  1. Look like sycamore 'helicopters' to me :-). Beautiful pictures as ever!

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    1. Thanks, Ginny. I thought sycamores too, at first, but when I got home and did a bit of research, I found they couldn't be (sycamores have alternate leaves, but these twigs have opposite leaf scars). But the seeds look good, whatever kind they are! :)

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  2. Sycamore, or some other maple relative, was what I thought too. Hope you're feeling better. It does look very wintry with you. Juliex

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    1. It could be maple - somehow I never thought of that one. (And did I think to look at the leaves on the ground beneath the trees? Of course not.)

      Thanks, Julie! :)

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  3. So nice to see all the shots of nature. I hope that your cold will be better soon.

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    1. Thank you, Sandra. It's already feeling better (Monday night) but perhaps that's due to the chicken soup we had for supper. :)

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  4. I, too, hope you are 100% soon. Clearing your senses and your sinuses had to help. :) I've always thought a walk in fresh air is the best Vitamin C you can take. ;)

    Your maple ghosts... phenomenal!!!! I love the altered photo, too. It looks like a weaving. (Why am I always trying to bring fiber into the photos!) I also love the shadow on the bed of leaves. Perfect end-of-season shot!

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    1. It does look like a weaving....

      I love those leaf prints on the sidewalk - the more so because they won't last.

      Thanks, Deb. :)

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  5. Get better quick! You have long legs. :-)

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    1. I know - really, I'm built like a model. (Model T, actually.) :)

      Thanks Astri.

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  6. A wonderful walk! You had me going there for awhile, though. I was beginning to doubt there would actually be a shadow shot. ;) That tree has seeds like a Maple. Could it be? Or I wonder if Box Elders have such seeds? Just a thought. Hope you feel much better very soon. I will eat a Peanut for you. You know, in your honor.

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    1. Would you believe that sometimes I forget to take a shadow shot? This one was hard to miss though.

      I think you're right about Maple - after reading all the comments here, I looked them up, and noticed that maple keys (or samaras, to give them their rightful, beautiful name) are paired just like the ones in my photos.

      I should eat some Peanuts too. Perhaps they have antioxidants that will help clear my head. (Does Peanut Brittle count?) :)

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  7. i liked the walk you had. the nature resembles my native country's nature:) however it's already minus temps over there! brr.... hey, that tree you don't know how to call also reminds me of out tree called Klenok, the seeds look alike.
    hope you are getting better and have a nice day! Anna

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    1. Thank you, Anna! Your country must be very beautiful but it also sounds very cold! :)

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  8. Thank you so much for taking me on your walk. I really needed the excercise. Love all the shots of the leaves and the tweaked one - the little bits of purple really made it beautiful instead of just lovely! My husband (being a very careful farmer) is always horrified to see fences like that but I think there's a certain charm! As long as they are not ours and our animals are getting out through them! Hope you are feeling a lot better now? Joan

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    1. Thanks Joan - much better. Barbed wire is dreadful in principle, but it can be visually appealing - probably because so many vines and plants twine along it. :)

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  9. Beautiful, beautiful post Sue, the winter end of October is has a faded splendour you've captured here. Though I'd suggest that it is the fence that is charming and not the barbed wire. I've had whippets run into that stuff at speed, so very not funny.

    What was funny was the sign we recently stumbled across by a local lake warning of killer shrimps! Dikerogammarus Villosus, a genuine threat to UK wildlife but the sign was so incongruous in the quiet UK countryside we fell about laughing. Your signs set me giggling about it again.

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    1. You're right about the fence. I've fallen onto a barbed wire fence (as a child) and it was definitely no joke. I think the illusory appeal lies in its evocation of "country". Killer shrimps - seems a bit of an oxymoron,but a hilarious one. :)

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  10. Beautiful pictures, so glad your out and about on a beautiful day. Hope your cold is much better today,
    Meredith

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    1. Thanks, Meredith - much better. It was a short one! :)

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  11. We called them helicopters as kids. don't know what they actually are. Pretty pictures.

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    1. We still call them helicopters, and one of my photographic goals is to get a clear photo of one in flight! :)

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  12. What a beautiful walk. It is so gorgeous where you live.
    Feel better soon. Colds can be a pain in the you know what.

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    1. Thanks so much, Ellen. It was a very short cold and I feel almost normal already. :)

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