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Here and There…Now and Then |
Limonium sinuatum (Statice)
Like yesterday, I didn’t get out at all today so I figured I’d take pictures of something in the house. In addition to the orange pincushion protea (Leucospermum cordifolium) that I photographed yesterday, there are some dried statice flowers (Limonium sinuatum) in the kitchen. That’s what today’s flowers are. They really have held their color quite well and their crape paper like petals are very pretty.
Leucospermum cordifolium (Pincushion Protea)
I’ve had good opportunities to get fall-color related pictures or dramatic sky pictures the last few days, but today I was pretty busy at work throughout the day and didn’t get a chance to go out. So, this evening I took some pictures of a flower that is drying out in our kitchen. It is a pincushion protea (Leucospermum cordifolium) and is from a shrub native to South Africa. They make good additions to flower arrangements and are quite striking. As you can see, even after they have started to dry out, they remain quite pretty. Up close, I think of it as a Medusa flower.
Cathy and Luna
We got to have Luna stay at our house for the weekend. Actually, she was only here a little more than 24 hours. Cathy brought her home yesterday and then we took her back to her house this evening. Before we took her back, though, I took a few pictures of her with Cathy. She’s a good dog and quite easy to care for. The sheet on the sofa tells her this is her place to sleep, and she seems to know that quite well.
Patapsco River
It was a rainy morning and early afternoon today. I had planned to have a photo shoot with Iris and Seth but because of the weather we postponed that until tomorrow. I had also arranged to visit our friend, Julia later in the afternoon. Since that wasn’t necessarily an outdoor activity, we met and planned to have a late lunch. We took a wrong turn, however, and ended up taking a walk along Grist Mill Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park (and having an early dinner, instead). The fall color isn’t completely gone but it is certainly past peak.
Dusky Clouds
The clouds were quite dramatic as I drove home this evening. I would have liked to stop and take a picture but the main road has no where to pull over where I’d be able to get a good view of the sunset. I pulled into the nearby shopping center and could see the clouds but the actual sunset was hidden. So, I made do with what I could see. These clouds were to the south of the setting sun and were nice enough, if not full of color, to deserve a picture of two.
Foggy Neighborhood
The roads in our neighborhood are not particularly dramatic, in general. On rare occasions, like this morning, when the fog was fairly thick, they can be fairly beautiful (however search the web for “Dark Hedges Ireland” sometime for a really dramatic lane). As I went out to drive to work today I thought I’d spend a few minutes driving around the neighborhood taking pictures.
It would probably be better without the mailboxes and lamp posts or the minivan parked on the right, but it’s still quite pretty. These are fairly large red oaks, planted in 1968 or 1969, so a little over 45 years old, and going strong. One of the street trees in front of our house, planted at the same time, died and was removed (that’s where Cathy’s marigold bed is now). The other two are still healthy but not as large as these, which are nicely proportioned. The fog adds to the drama, of course.
Lake Needwood
I know I’ve done Lake Needwood recently (see Friday, October 23, 2015) but I went to work that way again today and stopped for some pictures. The sky was an amazing blue and the reflection of the sky was, if anything, more amazing. Many of the trees have lost their leaves but there is still some color left. A little orange, yellow, and red to contrast with the blue. Definitely worth stopping for ten minutes, even if it made me a few minutes late getting to work.
Liquidambar styraciflua (American Sweetgum)
I had my annual physical this morning so took a slightly different route coming in. I also had a little extra time, so I stopped to take some pictures of fall color. These are the leaves of a sweetgum tree, or maybe more properly an American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) to differentiate it from the Chang’s, Chinese, and Turkish Sweetgums, which are L. acalycina, formosana, and orientalis, respectively. If you want a tree with great fall color, this would be a good choice. You might want to look for a variety that doesn’t bear fruit, which can be an annoyance in a yard. There is also a variety called ‘Rotundiloba’ which has rounded lobes in addition to being fruitless. But the species is worthy in itself, especially if planted in a large yard away from where you want to walk barefoot.
Evening Light in the Tops of the Trees
I’ve been enjoying the light after leaving work but because we went off so-called daylight saving time yesterday, the sun sets just about the time I leave work now. When I went out to my car this evening, the evening sun was just on the tops of the trees, both behind my building, where I park, and in front of the building, across the street. This is the view past my building to those across the street, where the trees are on a hill. My office is on the right, just out of the picture, looking out on the Norway spruce.
Marigold
Cathy and I worked a bit in the yard early this afternoon, filling in some bare spots with grass seed. Cathy put down some LeafGro on the bare spots and I spread the seed. I also spent a little time taking pictures. The flower bed that Cathy planted in the front of our yard, where the red oak tree used to be has done well all summer and made it through the light frosts we’ve had with the help of sheets over it at night. This is a bright, cheery marigold, petals glistening with water from recent rain.
C&O Canal, Below Swain’s Lock
It was another absolutely beautiful day today. Cathy had a soccer game and I was in Potomac anyway, so I decided to go for a walk on the C&O Canal. I drove out River Road and down to Swain’s Lock, walking down the towpath towards D.C. There were quite a few people out, as you’d expect on a day like this, but fewer than there would have been in summer, I suppose. It was the perfect temperature for a walk and the sky was remarkably blue. The colors in the trees seem to have passed their peak, in general, but there was still a fair amount, here and there.
The beech trees are still mostly green and the sycamores nearly bare. There was less red then one could hope for, adding exclamation points to the vistas, but there were a few places, like around this rock, where there was still a riot of color to be seen.
Zelkova Avenues on Norbeck Road
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now and needed to make it soon. The sun is setting as I come home from work and lighting the Zelkova serrata trees that are planted on either side and down the middle of Norbeck Road. They have turned from their summer green to a bright rusty orange that’s really quite amazing. With the end of daylight saving time this weekend, I’ll be coming home an hour too late next week, it will already be dark, so I stopped this evening and carefully made my way to the median, where I took a few pictures.
Autumn Sunset
Here I am posting a second time today (and the third picture). I don’t generally get complaints about sunsets, though, so I’ll go ahead. Actually, sunsets seem to be my number two most popular subject after people and family members in particular. I guess I understand that. Sunsets are pretty amazing, in spite of how common they are. The happen often (well, technically they happen every evening, but they are not spectacular every evening). But they are fleeting and ephemeral and really are not captured in a photograph. We only love the photographs because they remind us of the real thing, which is so much better.
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (Porcelain Berry)
I went for a walk early this afternoon, walking around the top half of the block my building is on. It’s a fairly large block so even my abbreviated walk was nearly a mile. I stopped fairly often and took pictures, mostly pictures of details rather than overall views. They were predominately pictures of colors that we think of as fall colors, but this first image is an exception. These are fall colors, of course, but they are not the colors we think of that way. Blues, purples, and bright greens are the colors of spring or possibly early summer. Fall is for hot colors, not these cool colors.
Maple Leaves
The second picture, of maple leaves, is much more traditionally fall-colored. The reds and oranges of maples are a big part of what we look forward to in the autumn in the mid-Atlantic states. The bright and sometimes deep reds of red maple (Acer rubrum, the bright orange of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), the deep, almost black reds of some Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are all wonderful parts of our fall festivities.
In addition to this picture of two maple trees, I took pictures of the deeper, rusty reds and oranges of oaks, the scarlet of sumac, the fiery orange of brambles (blackberries and raspberries), and yellow and orange crab apples. There were small, red rose hips on the multiflora roses. There were also red berries against green (but occasionally maroon) leaves of Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii). There were even the deep purple-blue berries of wild grapes in a few places.
Cathy
Time for a picture of Cathy. Often these are taken when it’s getting late and I haven’t taken any pictures for the day. Still, I’m always glad for an excuse to take her picture and always glad for the pictures I get. Pictures like this generally get more ‘likes’ on Facebook than any other sort, so they are clearly popular with my audience, as well.
Inevitably she will make silly faces for a few and we’ll sometimes try something a little different. This evening, after the faces, I took a few with her turning around quickly, spinning her hair out to the side. This picture happened in between, though. There were three ‘normal’ pictures (I put normal in quotes because silly is the norm, around here).
This one turned out quite well. Thank you, Cathy, for putting up with me all these years.
Crossword Puzzles
I enjoy crossword puzzles. Way back in the early 80s I started doing the crossword puzzles in the Washington Post. I had a friend at work that I’d do them with during lunch. Neither of us was very good at them and we were often frustrated by them. There was another co-worker who seemed to know all the answers and we marveled at his ability. Now, more then 30 years later, I often complete the puzzles in the post. We don’t get the print newspaper but my mom saves the puzzles for me and I work through them when I have time (as well as the puzzles in Simon and Schuster puzzle books). Here’s a stack of recent puzzles that I’ve finished.
Lamb Chops
I don’t usually buy lamb chops because I try to stick to the lower priced cuts of meat. There’s generally more flavor in those, anyway, but it’s at least partly about money (actually, it’s mostly about money, in this case). I will, for a special occasion, buy ribeye steaks but that’s an extravagance. The first thing I check at the store is the meat that’s been marked down, usually 30% and occasionally 50%. This is typically perfectly fine meat that’s nearing its sell-by date. Since I’m either going to cook it right away or freeze it, that’s no worry. These lamb chops were on sale this week and I figured it was worth it. They were terrific, broiled until hot and crusty on the outside and slightly pink in the center (except cooked all the way through for Cathy, who doesn’t care for rare).
Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood)
What a beautiful weekend. After some cold weather last week, it’s returned to 70°F temperatures and blue skies. We did some work in the yard early this afternoon, pulling up weeds that have managed to thrive in the dry months of August and September. We also cut back some of the things that we have planted but that are spreading faster than we’d like. I took a little time to take pictures, as well. I tried to get pictures of leaves falling from the trees in the back yard but they didn’t turn out as well as I’d have liked. This picture is of a few dogwood leaves and berries, turning their traditional fall colors.
An Enchanted Wood
I took a bit of a hike today. Well, a walk, really. Possibly a stroll. Anyway, I went to Little Bennett State Park and parked where Clarksburg Road crosses Little Bennett Creek and walked along Hyattstown Mill Road to Kingsley Schoolhouse. From there the road turns up a very steep hill and then levels off, leading to a camping area for the park. I passed a couple on horseback heading the other direction. Beyond the camping area is a path that leads into an enchanted wood.
I don’t actually know that the wood is enchanted. This is a picture of the path, leading off into the woods. I didn’t actually see any elves. I’m not sure that I heard any, even. But then, I’m one of the clumsy folk that they tend to avoid. So, even if they were there, they would have stayed out of sight. SO, maybe this wood isn’t enchanted, but it sure looks like it might be. It was enchanting, anyway.
Lake Needwood
I took the long way home today, stopping where Needwood Road crosses Lake Needwood and spending a little time taking pictures. The sky was a remarkable blue and although there may have been years with better fall color, the trees were quite lovely today, lit by the afternoon sun. The water was mostly calm, reflecting the colors beautifully. I’d love it if the growth on the causeway leading to the short bridge over the lake was cut so there was an unobstructed view of the lake, but by standing on the guardrail, I could get a reasonable picture.
