Yesterday when I drove down to Wayne to do my ‘big box’ store shopping, I took my camera along just in case. When I got to Monksville Reservoir I was glad I did. The fall colors were glowing in the morning sun. I just stood there for a while drinking it all in. Then I walked out on this floating dock to take some shots. It’s not quite peak yet, but very close.

The only disturbance in the water were tiny ripples fanning out from the slight movement of the dock as I walked out on it.

Taking a much closer look at the reflections causes a case of confusion! Which way is up? The photos end up looking like abstract paintings instead of photographs. Watch out they don’t make you dizzy!

Beautiful, is it not?
I can’t wait to get the canoe out this weekend! More to follow!

Please note: These photos were not enhanced in any way. They are just as they came out of my camera. No tweaking of colors.

You know me—I love a good storm. Sitting in Colorado under all that blue sky while back home they were having two really good storms drove me crazy. As predicted, the Nor’easter came. But it was pretty much a fizzle. Yes, it rained but not nearly as much as they had thought it would. No biggie, that’s for sure. Today is supposed to be gusty and windy on the tail end but that’s about it. If you want good weather just ask me to come and visit you! But, there is a definite upside to this and that is the changing trees. Right now they don’t need to have their leaves ripped off!

It was still the perfect kind of day (cloudy and cool) to be making this stew. It takes tons of prep work with peeling and cutting all the veggies and making the red wine and porcini mushroom sauce, but it’s totally worth it.

It gets served with some lentils (they get the sauce too) and a celery root and potato purée. Delicious!

Now for the second part of this post. The day before yesterday Rick came home from work and handed me an Apple bag. I knew right away what it was—an iPad! He told me I would probably getting one for Christmas or my birthday, but it’s neither one of those! What a surprise!

I LOVE IT! Thanks so much, honey!

Since Rick got his back in May it’s hardly left his side. I’ve often kidded him about how his iPad can do just about everything. Well, except for one thing that I can think of! And, if it did that he wouldn’t need me at all! After just one day of playing around with it I am beginning to see the addiction. I can just see us now, sitting side by side completely engrossed in our own little iPad worlds, sending each other IM’s back and forth ... how romantic!

Yesterday I was roaming around the grounds of Skylands Botanical Gardens and came across this flowering bush. They had lots of them planted. Does anybody know what this is? The photos show the different stages of blooming through the strange pod that comes after the bloom. The branches are ebony and it’s a large bush-like plant.

Finally.

The air is crisp, the light golden and soft. As we drove to the farmer’s market in Mia on Sunday (top down) we both had our seat heaters on and light jackets. The wind tugged at the brim of my hat, threatening to dislodge it from my head. I thought that spring and summer were the best times for a convertible, but I was wrong. Fall definitely is.

At the market we bought apples for a pie, acorn squash which we’ll make tonight, and lots of veggies to go into a stew that I will make tomorrow as the predicted Nor’easter brings us rain—lovely rain.

The trees are starting to change. Just in the one week that we’ve been home we’ve seen a big change. Today I took all three dogs for a walk (two at once, then Bella). While on my walk with the dogs I noticed some things I wanted/needed to photograph. What follows is the beginnings of fall where I live.

Virginia creeper along our chain link fence.

Love that red!

The leaves of this particular kind of tree (of which I do not know the species!) look like web-fingered hands.

The day was nice, but with spotty clouds obscuring the sun at times. Not the most ideal conditions for taking photos but sometimes the lack of sun is a good thing. I decided to walk down to Green Turtle Pond to see how the colors were coming along. It’s coming along nicely.

I can predict a canoe paddle soon!

More creeper!

Fall ... you’ve gotta love it! I know I do. Now we just need to get all that wood moved in time for fire season!

It’s not necessarily a bad thing when the leaves start to come off the golden aspens. They have other purposes too besides a showy dress for the trees.

They decorate small fir trees that happen to be growing underneath them, not unlike Christmas decorations.

They form a golden carpet on the forest floor too.

Still it’s a shame they have to go.

Just like it’s a shame that we too must go. Home. But we’ve extended our cabin stay by one day so we still have tomorrow ...