AstroGypsies

You can see so much, if you slow down and look:) Not just the dazzling array of colours, those yellows, oranges, rusts and reds, but the lingering greens, trees that are hanging on, not willing to give up their leaf cloaks just yet! Just look up! The colours against the blue sky today were mesmorizing!

The reds are slowing receding to burgundies and the rusts and yellows have started to take over the colour canopy. It is as if all the colours of an artists palette have come to life blowing in the breeze:)

I wasn’t prepared for all the flowers blooming! At the edges of the road the bright purple Asters are still in full swing. Bright yellow Clouded Sulphur butterflies were flitting about, had you not heard? Winter is coming! A few Mulleins were making a brave stand next to their shriveled and dead neighbours and a beautiful Queen Anne’s Lace bloom was thriving, with other flower buds about to open. The majority of them are now dried up brown seed heads so these glorious blooms were a welcome surprise! Some red berries I’ve yet to discover their name were also is different states of being, some had leaves on the plants, others were bare. Fascinating how Mother Nature works;)

Most of the mushrooms turned to goo after the frosts but we came across these beautiful little golden brown mushrooms growing on a dying hardwood tree, Flamelina Velutipes/Ennokitake Mushroom-Velvet Foot Mushroom, I think! There are ones that resemble this that are quite poisonous so we won’t eat these little guys, just watch them grow! They are only about 4″ tall in total!

I thought the frogs and bugs had gone into hiding as well but not quite! “She turned me into a Newt!…but I got better!” Mike said as he pointed out a tiny just over an inch long bright red-spotted newt, which did in fact turn out to be just that! ha! Don’t you love it when something resembles it’s name! Mike’s great astronomer eyes picked him out on a rock. We rescued a Woolly Bear caterpillar sauntering down the road, I didn’t want to see him squished like a small snake a few paces before so we moved it to the side:) A few Tussocks caterpillars have been seen wandering about the woods as well. So much life:)

I spent one sunny morning just watching our locals. The Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are quite cheeky! No fear! The Blue Jays hide and wait for me to leave to come in for the peanuts;) I hide in the shade to get them! The turkeys are safe, Thanksgiving is gone now, here in Canada anyway! I do love to photograph birds while it is sunny, the colours, especially with the leaves now creates such a beautiful backdrop. I keep trying to prepare myself for the gray days of November. One year I don’t think the sun shone the entire month…I can still shoot these glorious little birds, just higher ISO and shutter speeds! The Chickadees and Nuthatches always bring a smile to my face. The Goldfinches are back to their olive drab uniform of Winter, hardly recognizable from their bright yellow Summer feathers! I’m not sure if the Purple Finches stay or migrate, we’ll wait and see!

The traveling Mewberries have been having a blast in the leaves. Tearing about, chasing one another. Groot and Rocket stick close to us, crying if they can’t see us, Ms. Gamora on the other hand has a wild independent streak and we have discovered best to keep her leashed unless we want to go bush wacking after her! They enjoy their morning walks, especially if it’s windy, they are like a stable of thoroughbreds! 0_0…thoroughbred owners know what happens when it is windy and cool! ha!

We’ve had one quiet afternoon when the wind died down and we decided to go for a quick paddle before sunset. We didn’t get far, ran into our neighbour across from us, on the small island and introduced ourselves and chatted for quite a awhile. He knew many of the same people Mike had grown up with so it was an interesting conversation. He was closing up his cottage, taking the water in and said we might see him in the Winter. He’d walk down our road and cross over the lake once it froze! Hoping that is a ways off yet!

For now, I just want to soak in all this astounding colour and warmth on the days the sun is shining! A walk out to check the mail at the end of the Long Lake road is a real treasure of natures beauty. It keeps me grounded when the news of chaos and division is so great, all this works in some kind of harmony, why can’t we?

You may see me wandering down the road, humming a John Denver or James Taylor tune, wondering how beautiful this will look with snow, or ice, because in all reality, it is simply stunning no matter what the season, it’s just how we choose to look at it! Saludos amigos, stay safe, be kind and don’t forget to find that little bit of beauty in something, everyday!