©voyager, all rights reserved
Most of the cornfields around us have been cut down and readied for spring, but there are always a few farms that leave the stalks insitu over winter. I’m not a farmer and have no idea why, but today I was grateful to find something/anything that wasn’t a dirt bare, wet brown field.
It’s damp and drizzly again and while I might not like the weather there are certainly things that thrive when it’s moist outside. Fungus for example. Jack and I haven’t been to the forest in a few days and I was surprised to see this big bright piece of flaming fungus grown so large in 3 days. I swear it wasn’t there on Friday. It fits right in with the October colours all around it, but I didn’t expect to see fungus in a frilly orange party dress.
Flaming Fungus, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Pretty orange frills, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Last year we didn’t really have too much of an autumn show of colour. Instead, most trees just went from green to brown to leafless. This year, though, autumn is glorious and all the trees are wearing their best, bright party dresses. Jack and I invite you to join us as we stroll around our neighbourhood and look at all the pretty October colour.
Just starting to colour up
No. 10, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack and I have been on the hunt for the rich reds and oranges of autumn, but today this bit of green caught my eye. Tomorrow Bubba (Jack’s nickname) and I invite you to tag along as we share the showy colours of our very own neighbourhood in an extended Jack’s Walk.
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I love the way fallen leaves collect on the ground and flutter with every passing car. They softly whoosh and dance and sometimes my heart swells just at the sight and the sound of them. I can often be found kicking my feet in the gutters and setting them in motion. Jack politely stays on the sidewalk, often giving me a look that says ‘mommy, we’re not allowed to walk on the road,’ but even his good manners can’t stop me. Come dancing leaves, my feet are restless and my ears hear the waltz in your sighs.
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The weather here has been glorious for the past 2 days. It’s T-shirt warm with cloudless blue skies and it was wonderful to be outside with the sun warming my back. We slowed down a bit to take in all the pretty colours and stopped once or twice to watch the squirrels dash here and there squirreling away their treasure. I think I should grab a book and go sit outside. Housework can wait. There won’t be many more days like this and it would be a shame to waste it.
Happy Thanksgiving, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and our version of the holiday is a mix of harvest celebration, family get-together and time to count your blessings. We usually eat too much and grumble at how early the Christmas Season starts. There will be talk of Halloween and lots of remember whens and someone will tell the story of Dad and the whipped cream. There will be turkey and ham, squash and fresh green beans, apple and pumpkin pie and we don’t forget the cream, iced or whipped take your pick. Some of us will spend time outdoors going for walks and putting up Christmas decorations and most of us will spend a few minutes counting our blessings.
I have many blessings and I try to count them every day, but this year I have a whole new set of blessings to count and that is all of you. I feel very privileged to be a part of this community. You have all welcomed me during a very difficult time for this blog and your support means a lot to me. I’ve made friendships here with people from all over the world and although I will probably never get to meet any of you in person I value our friendship a great deal. So on this Canadian Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for you.
The first thought of the morning is about the wondrous harvest of walnuts I expect to be collecting today. After hot coffee and a very satisfying breakfast, I walk out into the backyard and see…
WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER?? ©rq, all rights reserved.
To be fair, I also suspect two bird species of participating in this massacre, but I have the evidence of my eyes that this is, in fact, the work of a large rodent-like animal. Evidence:
Not shy at all. ©rq, all rights reserved.
But will you look at that pretty face?
Who, moi? ©rq, all rights reserved.
Weeelll… Jury’s still out, I guess. There’s crows and jays around, and I have seen real squirrels creeping around the walnut tree.
In other words, I think this is a conspiracy of animals dividing the spoils without consulting us humans. How dare they!
©voyager, all rights reserved
The sun is hiding behind gray and gloomy skies today and the forecast says that we can expect rain for the next 5 days. Five Days! That means that I won’t see the sun until next Thursday. And the dampness. Oh Dear, my Fibro does not like the dampness. I’m already having a double gravity kind of day. Everything I do gets slower and more deliberate and requires more energy. I feel like I’m moving like a sloth. I call it The Creeping Jim Jams because my speed is set to creep and I’m all jammed up. Even my thinking gets slow. I think I might just ask the Mr. if he’ll go to Dairy Queen and get me a large cherry Blizzard. I’m going to go put on my jammies and binge watch A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix.
Pumpkin Season, ©voyager, all rights reserved
The sun has come out of hiding and it’s a lovely autumn day. Just warm enough that you don’t need a jacket, but still cool enough that Jack wants to frolic. I’ve been playing with my camera and the scratches don’t seem to impact my photos too badly. That means that I can take some time before I buy a new lens. This is good news because at the moment my money has more important things to do. Jack will be needing surgery soon to remove a lipoma (fatty cyst) on his right elbow. It’s grown to the size of a baseball and we’d like to have it removed before the snow starts to fly. The surgery is planned for Halloween, which can be winter-like around here so let’s hope autumn decides to stick around for a while.
Soggy leaves, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s another damp and dreary day around here and the weather forecast is for more of the same for days ahead. There wasn’t even moody fog today, just dull skies and soggy ground. Even worse, I tripped and dropped my camera and scratched the lens. The camera seems to be working fine, but for the next while my pictures may have a bit of scarring. I’ve been thinking about getting a better lens and perhaps this is the universe’s way of telling me not to wait any longer. In fact, it might just be time for an early Christmas/Festivus present for voyager. I’ll see how bad the damage is over the next few days and if it’s only minor I may try and wait. I think I might need to save a few more pennies to get the quality I want. I’m using a Canon T5i with an EFS 18 – 135mm lens. Any suggestions?
The setting for our walk this morning came complete with mood setting mist and the intermittent caws of a murder of crows. Very film noir, so Jack and I pretended we were on the run from the mob and that we had to find a cache left somewhere in the forest for us. We searched high and low with our eyes and our noses and I’m almost certain I heard the crack of a pistol and the swell of violins, but alas! we could not find the cache. My trusted familiar, Jackson Brown, proved his worth yet again, though, leading us safely to the motorcar left for our conveyance to safety.
Deep in the forest, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Paper Birch, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s been rainy for days with cool temps and even though I don’t like the weather at least the trees have finally started to change colour. Around our neighbourhood the first trees to turn are the birches with their bright yellow and gold leaves. Even on a dull, rainy day those birch leaves shine like sunflowers on a summer’s day. I suspect that the maples will colour up quickly now that the weather is decidedly set to autumn. I’m looking forward to getting lots of autumn trees to post from all of you, hint hint. I haven’t had any tree submissions in a while and I’d like to see what you’ve got.