Halloween Greetings

Yes, goblins and ghouls, it is once again that time of the year.

Come visit us if you dare.

Just beware of our past guests.







Some have been around longer than others.

Farmer Brown has been haunting these parts for many years now.

The spiders seem awfully large this time of year.

Ah, and here are our victims, er visitors now.

Check out the dog's costume.

Time was when kids had to walk to trick or treat.

Happy Halloween!

The Colors of Fall and Woolly Worms

Fortunately, the colors that we so love in the autumn are around for a couple of weeks.

And please do as I say and not as I do:

don't try to drive and take pictures at the same time.

But I really can't help myself.

These trees are just too pretty.

See what I mean?

Here's a bit of trivia for you.

This neighborhood was developed on land that was owned by the parents of Rex Grossman, who was the starting quarterback when the Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts for the 2006 season.

In fact, his parents still live in the back of the neighborhood.

I love this tree.

This is the view from the street between our neighbor's and our house.

See, I found 'my' barn again.

Those pesky leaves hid the thing from me all summer long.

Several turkey vultures live in the barn and sometimes will sit in the tree with the bare branches.

Turkey vultures stand about two feet tall and have a wing span of about six feet.

The other day was sunny with warm temperatures, so I decided to go for a walk.

There is a one-lane road that dead ends behind our property, so I headed out across the yard for that, camera in hand.

This is a walk that I should have taken last week as much of the foliage had already peaked, but I still found some pops of color here and there.

Trees along a fence row.

I did find a woolly worm on the road.

Folk lore holds that the darker the coat on the woolly worm, or woolly bear, the more severe the winter will be.

*

According to the Woolly Worm Festival, this winter is predicted to be cold and harsh.

The National Weather Service disagrees, saying that the winter will be warmer and milder than normal.

However, considering that the NWS couldn't even get yesterday's forecast right a few hours in advance, I don't have much faith in their long-range forecast.

*

I think I'll go with the woolly worms and the Old Farmer's Almanac.

I really like this picture.

I played around with several settings on my camera to try to capture the effect of the sun coming through the leaves as the human eye sees it.

I think this is it.

I am not sure what tree this is, but the pink hulls opening to show berries is interesting.

Click on this picture to see the detail.

There was just something about the barb wire wrapped around the post that captured my attention.

Chicory flower blooming.

Pinkweed, also called smartweed.

More fall colors, this time from my back deck.

Dogwood and fothergilla.

Don't mind the graveyard.

Fallen dogwood leaves.

Hm, do you suppose I can use my hot glue gun to put the leaves back on the tree?

The Colors of Fall

This autumn has been particularly colorful in Southern Indiana and I have been endeavoring to document its masterpiece.

Berries in a Burning Bush, or winged euonymus.

Another view of the Burning Bush.

A magnificent sugar maple.

*

One day last week I decided on a whim to take my lunch down by the lake.

But first I needed to procure my lunch.

Fortunately, a friend had told me about this little gas station in a little town nearby.

As it happens, this gas has a little restaurant business going and they make a mean breaded pork tenderloin.

What's not to like?

Just for reference, the bun is about six inches across.

And for a mere $5.08 with tax, this sandwich made a nice little lunch.

You just can't beat this ambiance.

It's just too bad that the Army Corp of Engineers decided to pick this day to have their parking lot sealed.

It proved to be a bit inconvenient as I had to park on the side of the road and then traipse across the grass to get to the dam overlook.

But you have to admit that the views overlooking Lake Monroe were worth the little bit of hassle.







I really was surprised to find that there weren't boats out on the lake.

I know that if I had a boat, I would have been out on the lake on a day like this.










I love the colors in the woods overlooking the lake.

And there's that sugar maple again.

Meanwhile, back home the dogwoods and the fothergilla are turning colors.

Fothergilla.

More fothergilla leaves.

Dogwood berries.

These won't last long as the birds will soon devour them.

Sunshine through the Canada Red Chokeberry.

Oh look, after its summer absence, 'my' barn is back.

I have to say that we are lucky to have such pretty views from our back deck.

Very lucky indeed.

Sweet gum in the neighborhood.

Farm in fall.

Autumn fields.

Thanks to the husband for taking this photo for me.

Please enjoy this short Sunday detour.

Bradford Pears in in fall color.

A bright punch of red along the roadside.

Shades of autumn.

Colorful trees all in a row.

Color, color everywhere.

See what I mean?

You can see why Bloomington loves its trees.

Just lovely.

Even against the buildings, these trees are gorgeous.

I still prefer the natural settings.

But that's just me.

Happy Autumn!