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Here and There…Now and Then |
Autumn’s Cathedral
I took Dorothy to take the SAT this morning. The sky was amazingly dramatic as I was coming home. I picked up my camera and went out into the neighborhood. It was a beautiful day with the trees and shrubs all of beautiful hues.
This view, which is not as dramatic in the photograph as it was in reality, brought to mind a cathedral built of trees, reaching as high and much longer then the largest cathedral I’ve ever seen.
Bare Tree and Fall Colors
The autumn has proceeded fairly slowly this year. There were individual trees and bushes with significant and sometimes brilliant color but in general, the woods have remained mostly green The last day or two, however, has brought out the best in the fall color and, unless I’m very much mistaken, you’ll be seeing a few pictures of it here over the next few days.
This picture is taken from a window in my building, just down the hall from my office. This morning it was overcast and the diffuse light brought out the red of the tree in the background to an amazing extent, contrasting wonderfully with the grey of the naked branches of the tree in the foreground. Later the sun came out. It’s still quite striking, I think, but less so that it was earlier in the day.
Katie and her Kids
We only had 32 trick or treaters for Halloween this year. Of course it started to rain about the time the kids started to appear so I suspect that kept the numbers down a bit. Katie came by with her three, and they stayed at the door long enough for me to get their picture. I got another one, later, of Porter and Joseph, which is good but not nearly so cute.
Henry and Greta
Last Wednesday I posted three pictures, two of Calvin and one of Henry. All three pictures had other people with these beautiful boys. I know I’ve already posted a photo for today but I can’t resist posting this one, of Henry and his mom, Greta. It’s just too good a picture to pass up.
Generally I’ve been trying to fill this space to the left of the photograph. It isn’t necessary, I know, but it’s forcing me to write a bit more as an exercise. In this case, I’m just going to let the photo speak for itself.
Willow Oak
Outside my office windows, in an island in the parking lot, stands a willow oak (Quercus phellos). It isn’t a particularly healthy tree, which isn’t surprising when you consider the limited space for its roots. The top and outer ends of the branches have mostly lost all their leaves by now, but the central part of the tree is a beautiful, golden color. Particularly in the afternoon, when the sun hits it, it lights up like a torch and is quite lovely.
Rose ‘Perle d’Or’
I’m really happy with this rose bush. I don’t know that there has been a time since May when there wasn’t at least a rose or two and right now there are more than a dozen. It’s the last week of October and we’ve had a frost and it’s still blooming. It hasn’t really gotten bitter cold yet and I know it has to end soon but for now, I’m still enjoying the fragrance of roses when I come out my front door.
How awesome is that?
Small Sunset
Some sunsets are grand affairs, filling the sky from east to west with brilliant color. Others, most, in fact, are simple and forgetful, with the sun dropping below the horizon without any special color or fanfare. Tonight was somewhere in between. There was a little color right down on the the horizon but most of the sky was clear and an ordinary blue. But with a longer lens, looking between the trees and our back yard neighbors’ houses, there was still a colorful sunset to be seen. Actually, for about two minutes some very thin, wispy clouds all across the sky lit up with a very pale pink, but the picture of them wasn’t as beautiful as the reality, so this is a picture of the horizon.
Floating Leaves
These leaves are floating in a bird bath on our back patio. The colors are so intense, partly because of the late afternoon light. I really like the intensity of fall colors. In the spring I like pinks and pale yellows as well as anything but in the fall, it’s the zing and pow that I’m looking for. Sort of nature’s fireworks. It’s finally gotten cold and we’ve had frost on the ground the last couple days. To me, the temperature and the colors go together perfectly.
Female Cardinal
Outside our dining room window is a small garden bed that doesn’t get a lot of special care. It’s partially under the eaves so the back is fairly dry but that doesn’t seem to deter the things growing there. We have a clump of maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) that came from our old yard in Gaithersburg and before that from my parents’ house. There is a big clump of blackberry lily (Iris domestica) that blooms wonderfully through the middle of the summer. There is also a huge butterfly bush (Buddleja) seedling that would be nicer if it were not so huge. All the spare space in the bed is taken up by Virginia Knotweed (Persicaria virginiana var. filiformis ‘Painter’s Palette’). That has loads of very tiny red flowers followed by brown seeds (achenes, technically). Apparently, and I didn’t realize this, the birds love the seeds. I’ve noticed cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and white-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) on them a few times over the last few days and managed to get a few decent photographs through the dining room window. So far, only the female cardinal has sat high enough in the them to be clearly visible.
Fritz
Dorothy was going out to our friends’ farm this evening and rather than let her get a ride, which would have made a lot of sense, I took her myself. Mostly it’s because I like the excuse to visit the farm. We got there just before dusk, which wasn’t the best time for pictures, but I took a few anyway, including this one of the youngest farmer, Fritz. Like most very young people, he didn’t know what to make of me at first but after a few pictures, and after I showed them to him, he warmed up to me a little. Enough for something of a smile, anyway.
I took some with Anna in them and a few with Dorothy holding Fritz but none of them are as good as this one, which I like.
Squash Seeds
I got home this evening and hadn’t taken any photographs at all today. Some days it’s easy to take pictures and other days, not so much. Today was a not-so-much day. I got home and started fixing dinner. I had an acorn squash that I had been meaning to cook for a while and decided tonight would be as good a time as any, so I cut it open and cleaned out the seeds. I don’t know of Solomon will get them or if they’d go outside for the wild birds, but they won’t go to waste, I can promise you that. Anyway, it was something to photograph.
Donna and Calvin
Gretchen and Henry
Katie and Calvin
Greta was at church this evening and had her two boys with her. Henry and Calvin have appeared here before but I couldn’t resist adding a few more of them.
First we have Donna with Calvin, then Gretchen and his older brother, Henry, and finally Katie with Calvin again. As you can see, Calvin hasn’t quite got “smile for the camera“ figured out, but it won’t be long, I’m sure.
Moon After Sunrise
Looking out our back door this morning I enjoyed the view of the moon, as it slowly descended into the west. The sky was a beautiful blue with a few scattered clouds. By the time I left for work, the sky was totally covered with clouds and the moon was no longer visible. It wasn’t as spectacular as a colorful sunrise but the moon suspended in a clear blue sky was still quite lovely.
Oakleaf Hydrangea
I really should have more than one of these. I think it would make a nice, open screen along the front edge of a portion of our yard. Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a native to the south-eastern United States and does quite well here. The large, lobed leaves are attractive all year and are particularly beautiful when they turn a deep claret (or bordeaux, if you prefer). They bloom, but their flowers are not particularly showy, at least not compared to some of the other hydrangeas.
Amur Honeysuckle
On Wednesday, September 25, 2013 I took a photo of Lonicera maackii, the Amur honeysuckle. As I mentioned at the time, it’s an invasive weed and not something that needs a lot of encouragement. Still, it has sweet smelling flowers followed in the fall by wonderful red berries that, I assume, the birds enjoy. As the days start to shorten and get cold, the leaves also start to turn a deep red-green mix that is quite lovely. So, here’s another dose of Amur honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii, berries and leaves.
Mushroom
Our back yard has a lot of mushrooms right now, mostly in a ring around the trees that were taken down this summer. I assume this means the roots are rotting nicely. The mushrooms are certainly happy enough. This is one of them from an ant’s eye view (or I suppose a bird’s eye view, if it’s a small bird and it’s standing on the ground next to the mushroom). I like the light from the afternoon sun shining through the top of the mushroom.
Hannah
On Thursday I got a text message from Dorothy at school asking me (in all caps) why I didn’t tell her she was in town. I played dumb and pretended that I didn’t know what Dorothy was talking about. Dorothy isn’t a big fan of surprises. Still, it isn’t always about her and I had been asked to keep it quiet, so I kept it quiet.
On Saturday we were fortunate enough to have Hannah visit us for a while. Not long enough for Dorothy, but we’ll take what we can get. During the day I decided the red leaves of this dogwood tree would make a good backdrop for Hannah’s flaxen hair. She was nice enough to let me take a few pictures of her and this is one of my favorites.
It was nice to see you, not-daughter.
Dahlia
Back on Memorial day weekend Cathy and I visited the wonderful Heritage Rosarium in Brookville. Nick and his lovely wife Roseanne share their garden but it’s also about visiting with them. For a while now, in addition to Roses, Nick has been growing dahlias. This year, they had packaged up some dahlia tuber and gave each of their visitors one. Cathy planted ours out back and it is starting to bloom. This picture was taken in the evening, so the light is not terrific, but as you can see, the flower it a wonderful, rich, saturated red.
Evening Sky
There was another beautiful sky this evening. It didn’t turn as brightly colored as it has on occasion but it was still quite dramatic. I found a place to pull off the road where there was a reasonable view of the sky to the westward and took a few pictures. I love these blues.
Donna and Preston
When the only pictures I have for a particular day are taken at church or school or another “gathering” event, I often go through them with Cathy and Dorothy to select the best picture to post here. It’s fun, of course, to take pictures of people making funny faces but in general (and this isn’t a hard and fast rule) I try to post pictures here that are not going to embarrass anyone. That’s not to say that the people in them are going to like the pictures, of course. If that was my criteria, I’d often have a hard time posting pictures of some people because some (or many) people don’t like pictures of themselves as a matter of policy.
Donna generally doesn’t like having her picture taken but was happy to pose with Preston her son, who is one of those people always happy to have his picture taken as long as he can make a face or strike a pose. In this case, they were both relaxed and happy and I think you’ll agree, it’s a pretty good picture.
