A day or two after the last set of pics taken at Monksville I went back, knowing that there was a little skiff of fog hanging around. The following pics came out of that shoot.
I hope you enjoy them!

It has not been a stellar year here for color. While it was pretty, it didn’t last. Our drenching rain of over two inches on Friday really did the trees in. One of the prettiest spots I know of for fall color is Monksville Reservoir.

Lots of color due to the different kinds of trees and the burning bushes down low along the shoreline are gorgeous. I got caught up in the reflections.

More fall pics coming tomorrow!

Our Alex has reached the grand old age of 10! Go Alex! I was going to take him in the yard for a photo shoot today but it’s drizzly and gray.

As you can see he pretty much gets to do what he wants to. He got to go for a ride in the truck today and we stopped at McDonald’s for some chicken nuggets (which he loves). Tonight he’s having steak. He deserves it.

We love you, Alex!

It does seem like we are awakened by various odd things in the middle of the night. Fireworks, strange bird calls, an accident.

At first I wasn’t sure what I was hearing coming from a deep sleep to consciousness. It sounded like an explosion and at first I thought our neighbors’ house had blown up. I glanced at the digital glow of our clock on the dresser: 1:30 a.m.

I got up to look out the window and could see a car by one of the pillars that stand on either side of our driveway. There was someone yelling (STOP! I think) and I think I yelled out something similar because something gave me the impression that the person was going to just drive off.

Rick and I scrambled to get into our clothes, turned on the front lights and headed up the driveway to see what had happened. We quickly realized is was our neighbor’s son and his girlfriend. His girlfriend was leaving in her car and attempted to back into our driveway to turn (obviously at a high rate of speed), missed the driveway and ran into the pillar and completely knocked it out of its base! Holy Backup Batman!

She was sobbing pretty hysterically (I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’ll pay for it …) with blood running from her nose. We asked if she was alright and she said yes. Her car did not look alright. Obviously our stalwart brick pillar reigned supreme in this incident even it was lying there like a tomb, it was surprising unscathed. Her back windshield was gone, the whole back of her car smashed in. It looked undrivable to us. Plus, it was leaking some kind of fluid onto the road.

We asked how it happened and her boyfriend basically said that she had “punched it in reverse.” A lover’s quarrel? Alcohol involved? Yes, probably but can’t say for sure. No reason to be going fast enough to knock the thing right out of the ground! It was a terrible sound I can tell you that.

We headed back in the house while they came back and picked up some of the bigger chunks of wreckage and moved the car off the road. Needless to say it took us both several hours to get back to sleep after such commotion.

This morning we surveyed the damage in the light of day. In this pic you can see the pillar in relation to the street.

Glass everywhere.

And here you can see the trajectory of the light that used to be on top of the pillar and the light base as if they were thrown by Atlas. (Note: the red is part of her tail light.)

The light: amazingly the glass is intact!

And the light base, also amazingly intact.

Here is the pillar on the opposite side of the driveway and how it’s supposed to look.

It will be interesting to see what Dennis (our mail person) does when he delivers the mail today!

Honestly, for living in such a small and quiet community we seem to have more than our fair share of excitement.

Monksville Reservoir, Wednesday

I’ve been busy! This time of year I have to keep up with the leaves falling or I get into trouble. I did one half the front yard on Monday and it took me so long (emptying the bags after every swipe) I only did the one side. I’ve spent the last three+ hours doing all the yards!

I’ve also managed to spend some time out with the camera as you can see by the shot above that I took at Monksville Reservoir on Wednesday. It’s peak season! I did not alter that shot at all. It’s just as it came out of the camera. Do I need to tell you the colors are beautiful this year?

I was out again this morning when it was misty and moody as the sun rose above the trees.

I love this time of year! Well, except picking up all of those beautiful leaves…