Autumn in New York

Here in our little corner of upstate NY the autumn leaves reached their peak 2 weeks into October. Driving home from church on that second Sunday of the month the beauty of the countryside was overwhelming. DH and I decided an afternoon drive, armed with the camera, would be a perfect way to spend an hour or so.

We drove first to our top meadow, where fields of corn, dried by sun and wind to a warm shade of russet, are awaiting harvest.

Trees clothed in fiery reds, burnt umbers, tawny oranges...a vast array of warm earth tones....surrounded the meadow.

Bright sunshine magnified the colors......

...and dappled the leaves,

filtering through the woods....

and enhancing the vivid greens of the hayfields.

As we drove down out of the meadow I marveled at the beauty of the fall and God's artistry.

Just a little further along the road a few farms nestled on the hillsides, surrounded by the splendor.

The dark green of pines interspersed with the deciduous trees....

.....made a brilliant contrast.

We didn't actually drive very far,

and stopped often, so the time passed quickly.

Soon we headed for home to do a bit of work outside before the sun set. That's another of our cornfields, with our farm tucked at the bottom of the hill.

Ecru, against rust, green, gold and a cloudless blue sky. What could be prettier?

Another view of the farm a little further down the hill.

It was hard to put the camera away and settle down to work on such a glorious day!

So I took a few photos from our back yard of the surrounding views.

I'll miss the soft browns of the cornfields once they're harvested.

This maple tree still has its green leaves, with just a few yellowing tips on the branches.....strange, because it was the first of our maples to begin the transition in early September.

Rain has been pouring down continuously today, and the glorious fall colors have turned to drab, but the memory of the splendor lingers on. It will help to carry us through until spring brightens our corner of the world again.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Edit:

Dave over at The Home Garden is hosting " The Garden Blogger Fall Color Project", which I've just noticed this past weekend as I visited a few of my garden blog friends. I've added this post to his comment section. Click the orange link and pop over to add a post of your own, or to see more fall foliage extraordinaire!