I don’t know about you, but today I need some warmth so I am posting this photo taken yesterday of the turning colors at Monksville Reservoir. Doesn’t it warm you up? Right now the temps are in the 30’s, it’s dark and gloomy, and the big “S” word is predicted for later on in the day. SNOW. Already? Tell me it’s not so! Please don’t ruin these lovely fall colors Mother Nature! What can you be thinking?

We have plans to visit the Rhinebeck Wool and Sheep Festival this weekend and the weather is supposed to be nasty both days. boo-hoo. But we are East Coasters now and will just bundle up and take our umbrella and wear suitable shoes. We don’t let the weather stop us anymore. I am so looking forward to it!

Remember this scarf? I still haven’t had the courage to seam it together but I so want to wear it this weekend. I practiced and practiced the kitchener stitch until I had it down pretty good, but now I’ve lost the skill of it all because I waited too long. Since the weather is going to be so nasty over the next two days and Rick has a business dinner tonight, maybe I’ll practice yet again (and again) and get up the courage to just finally DO IT. It doesn’t have to be perfect, right? The scarf is doing me no good in two unwearable pieces! Wish me luck ... I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Please let me know if this photo is too big for you to view!

I went to Skylands (New Jersey Botanical Gardens) the other day. It’s something I like to do at different times of the year. I was hoping for fall colors but they weren’t really around just yet. It’s pretty empty of people during the week unless they are having a wedding at the manor house. Which reminds me, have you ever caught the reality show Masters of Reception? It’s a show about a family of caterers based here in New Jersey and they use Skylands Manor as a venue for weddings all the time. It’s kind of fun to watch the show when it’s taking place only miles from your front door. I think they just aired the last show of the season but you can probably catch it on reruns. It’s actually pretty good. If you want to see real New Jersey people in action, this is it. Not Real Housewives of New Jersey! Except that I know many of the locations and restaurants that were featured on Housewives. Real locations. Not so sure about all the housewives. Some, yes. Others maybe not. But, I’m getting off the track here.

Skylands is a peaceful place of wide grassy lawns and plenty of places to sit and relax. Many exotic and different species of trees not indigenous to the area were brought here by the original owner of the manor house, and today they are all thriving.

It was supposed to be a sunny day but the sun kept going in and out of passing clouds, so I was a bit challenged photographically speaking. It was pretty breezy too with little micro gusts of wind at times, which is never good for trying to photograph flowers. But I clicked my camera to the sports setting and persevered. Some flowers were still blooming in their perennial garden.

I came across two women who were had their easels set up and were painting en plein air.

I asked one of them if I could take a peek at their work. She said sure. Her left hand was clutching five or six brushes loaded with different colors of paint; her right hand daubing paint onto the canvas board as we chatted a bit.

I told her how I wished I could paint and that my Father had been a really good artist but that I was disappointed I had not inherited his talent. In fact, that I had two left hands when it came to drawing and painting and such. Since her hands were already full she lifted her chin and gestured in the direction of the camera hanging from around my neck. She said “You take photographs though, right?” I nodded and said “Right, but it’s not the same.” She shrugged as if to disagree.

As I walked off and left them to their painting, I started thinking about what she had said and that maybe she had something there after all. I may not be able to draw or paint but I do express myself artistically through my photography. Bad or good, like them or not, my photography is as much an expression of me as a painting would be. What I see when I look through that camera lens and what other people see looking through the same camera lens may be very different things. The capture I end up with is uniquely mine. Sometimes my fingers itch to commit to paper a certain scene or flower but they never follow through. They just don’t deliver. The camera does. The world is my canvas, all the things in it are my paints, and my camera the brush.

There is something special about the quality of light at this time of year. It’s soft. Golden. The sun dips lower and lower and barely makes it above our trees. In the morning the light sifts through the trees creating glorious sunbeams. It shines through droplets of water leftover from the previous night’s rain, and a spider’s web.

The pool, now closed for the winter, never makes it into the full sunlight.

The hours of sunlight we can count on having each day get fewer and fewer. Night falls faster and faster. The sun is reluctant to wake up. Prepare to spend more time inside it seems to be saying.

The moon takes over the sun’s job and also rises through the trees, bathing the yard in its pale shimmery light.

I don’t know about you but I am taking in all of this golden light that I can!

It’s been gray/rainy/foggy and cool this week. Typically fall. Our mushroom foray that was rescheduled for today was put on hold for yet another week. It would seem the mushrooms are reluctant to make an appearance. So instead we visited Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought new bed pillows, sheets, and towels. The washer and dryer are working overtime getting them all ready for use. Well, not the pillows of course. (Did I mention the dryer is fixed? Well, mostly. It still needs a new belt which will be installed on Monday, but at least it’s usable.)

I just now stepped out on my deck because I heard the Carolina Wren singing its sweet song. It actually prompted me to write this entry. Such a cool bird to have around and it has so many different tunes it can sing! My neighbor’s rooster was crowing too, and every once in a while the sheep chime in with their cute baaaa…baaaa…baaaa‘s. My neighbor told me that they will be bred this fall so we’ll have more sheepy noises to come. I told her we’d love to have some milk to make cheese from but I don’t know if that will happen or not. It’s complicated. There will be wool though from the shearing. (Not that I would know what to do with it!)

There is also the very loud thwack! sound of acorns (or maybe it’s the other large nut-like things that have been falling this year) hitting the deck of my neighbors across the street. The rustling of tree leaves and limbs can also be heard as the squirrels busily run to and fro with their nutty booty.

Even though the trees are not showing much color as yet, fall has arrived. And maybe, just maybe, I’m out of my blut.