Changing Colours

What's been happening at Micawber Towers the last week or two? Nothing exciting.

The lurgy has been, and is now gone, much to our relief.

I've been plunged in a vortex of crochet dissipation, with not much to show for it but several pattern ideas sent off to various editors. Whether any will be accepted, who can say? But I've enjoyed the intensive swatching. I wish someone would pay me to swatch....

We enjoyed a week of sunshine and summer-like temperatures, made surreal by the steady falling of leaves from the trees. Bees, urgent with the knowledge that such dreamlike weather was too good to last, were locked in last-minute embraces with my cosmos blossoms:

But yesterday September woke up, and realised it had been slacking off on the business of fall. The mercury dropped about 25 degrees; grey clouds rushed in, complete with dampness and drizzle, and our dreams of a long warm autumn were quenched. Ah well.

Here are some photos from those halcyon days of heat and sun. First off, an afternoon walk from last week. Blue skies and power lines:

Hawkweed, its hair already in curlers for the night:

A fallen maple leaf - the first of many to come:

Sun shining through Virginia creeper in the wood:

The pond at the prairie restoration project was well-populated with honking geese...

...most of whom panicked when I walked by...

...leaving only a few brave birds behind to guard the peaceful waters:

A squirrel at the very top of a tree sat frozen while I snapped several photos:

At the other side of the pond, more Virginia creeper - a shock of scarlet amidst the green:

At this point I had to turn back. Though barely a mile from home, my legs were giving out due to lingering effects of the lurgy. But I got a lovely shot of smartweed (also known as knotweed or water pepper) on the way home:

~ ~ ~

Now we fast forward to the end of the week, for a short Saturday bike ride in which I encounter three horses running down the road towards me:

I only have time for one quick photo before I see an entire family of Amish coming after the horses. (The Amish prefer not to be photographed, so at this point I put the camera away.) I slow the bike down, and stop about 10 feet away from the horses, who then decide to turn and thunder back towards their stable, just beyond the barn to the right. The nearest Amish family member grins at me and says, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

It's a very beautiful day, blue-skied and hot. Cornfields and soybean fields are bleaching to yellow and gold behind a red barn, while a white cow grazes in the pumpkinless pumpkin field in front:

(It's been a bad year for pumpkins in our area. Some attribute this to weather, and others to a lack of bees.)

On a road that stretches through extensive marshlands, I see a turtle, its shell covered with moss and (I am sorry to say) leeches:

The road climbs out of the marsh, past fields edged with bright sumac hanging out its autumn bunting...

...then up to a wooded hill, where a tiny glade just off the road is transitioning beautifully from summer to fall in a flurry of green, red, and gold:

And that's the last photo from Saturday's ride.

~ ~ ~

Sunday is another hot, beautiful day, perfect for a walk. The oak tree in the front yard has been busy dropping leaves:

All the neigbourhood walnut trees are turning gold:

The leaves of this tiny tree (which I can't identify) are a deep, saturated yellow:

Combed grasses are adorned with scattered leaves:

Though there's still plenty of green to be seen, autumn definitely has a foothold.

Now we just need the maples to get going....

~ ~ ~

What colour are the trees where you live?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~