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!

August Morning Walk

This week's weather has been almost perfect!

I glanced out the back door last Tuesday on a bright, sunny morning and was excited to see this very large spiderweb in the cosmos....complete with sparkling dew! Just the day before I had been looking at Judith Polokoff's spectacular photo of a spider in a web (you absolutely must click the link and take a look!), and here was a web of my very own to experiment with!

I still have so much to learn about this camera, but I like the combination of the intricate web and the pretty pinks of the Cosmos sparkling with dew in the soft morning light. Mother Nature paints such esquisite pictures.

Our sweet young neighbor, Sandy, and I have been walking in the mornings again this summer. She arrived as I was photographing the web, and before we left for our walk we said good morning to the newest member of our barn cat family. It's another dear little calico kitten, born to Tink 17 days ago. Tink can be seen in the previous post......the white calico in the foreground of the picture in which the cats are waiting to be fed.

Sandy noticed the beautiful bloom on the Queen Elizabeth rose.

And I pointed out to her how pretty this grass looks with the dew on it.

The fog hadn't quite lifted and still hung over the trees across the road.

I took my camera that morning because we had seen this dead porcupine beside the road on the previous morning. It's a rare occurance to see these creatures and unfortunately they're usually dead when we do happen upon them. Poor thing was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Have you ever tried pulling porcupine quills out of a dog's muzzle....not much fun, let me tell you, for the dog or the "doctor". It happened once, a long time ago, to Daisy, a dear old hunting dog that belonged to my father-in-law. Ouch!!

Sandy has a particular fondness for this lovely old elm tree....one of the few remaining around here.

The haying is finished and round bales sit in the meadows, waiting to be picked up and stored for winter feeding.

I love the combination of the Joe Pye Weed and Goldenrod.

There's an abundance of both in the surrounding fields.

The wild Asters are beginning to bloom too. You can see some blue ones to the left of this photo, and Joe Pye Weed on the right.

The fuzzy brown heads of Cattails are always pretty.

Coming back now, we see our field of sweet corn with the barn behind.

The hedgerow across the road from our house provides a beautiful view when we look out each morning. This scrub provides a home for many of the birds that visit our feeders. A small creek runs under the road and through the tangled brush toward the river, not far away.
We've noticed that some of the leaves have already begun to turn on the trees, and there's a definite nip in the crisp morning air. Fall is not far off....to me, not a pleasant thought. I'd like the summer to go on and on.

Jasmine was awaiting our return...........

................and ran out to us welcome us home.
She makes a big fuss of Sandy and Wes because they spoil her when she stays overnight with them when we go to visit the kids :)

We're lucky to be blessed with such great neighbors.

I'm also blessed by this wonderful blogging community.
Mrs. Darling of Dishpan Dribble has graciously awarded me the Nice Matters Award (I also received it from dear Horizon, as I mentioned previously). I appreciate her thoughtfulness and am grateful for her kind words. Thanks so much Mrs. D.
I know I'm supposed to pass it on to 8 people, but it's getting very late and I must get some sleep, so I'll just pass it to each and every one of my blog friends because in my opinion you all deserve it.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!