Autumn has brought cooler, wetter weather and it feels like everything around us is breathing a sigh of relief. Summer is rich, but after so much heat and growth, everything seems kind of tired now and ready for a rest. We love this time of year; the smells, the colors, the chill. Going outside is invigorating and Craig gets our wood stove up and running so that coming back inside is cozy and welcoming. Something about this time of year reminds me of that ease I feel when I've done everything I need to do for the day and have a few minutes to relax before I go to sleep.
One of our young apple trees was colonized by ladybugs, so almost every apple needed to have its residents relocated back onto the tree:
I hope the colony winters through so they can keep the aphids at bay next year. I wonder why they didn't find the huge aphid mass on the broccoli in the garden. Apparently they like Fuji apple aphids even if I've never seen one:
Young and fluffy:
Mantis on mums:
This ladybug seemed quite happy on the squash:
Ladybug toes!
After a heavy rain we were treated to a visit from this large frog:
And this small snake:
Watching a storm roll in:
The big pileated woodpeckers have been very active (and noisy) lately, happily gorging themselves on apples. I have tried many times but still haven't gotten a great photo of one, but even hiding behind many leaves they are lovely:
First potato harvest all cleaned and ready to cook:
Pink and blue:
This bald eagle came to roost at the top of the tallest tree down at our favorite pumpkin farm:
This is handheld and zoomed in 50 - 100x from very far away in light that was beginning to fade. I was lucky to get a couple shots that are more or less in focus:
We were just talking about how we haven't seen an owl in a while and how they often show up this time of year. This great horned owl was hooting very noisily for quite some time from the top of one of a huge fir, then silently flew away:
You can get a better idea of how big it is when I zoom out a bit. It is perched on top of the leftmost tree in the photo, at the edge of the forest.
A nice fall harvest: eggplant, squash, zucchini, kale, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, strawberries, flowers, and our teeny tiny carrots:
One of our last colorful harvests:
The final garden crops: the last of the potatoes and chard. Actually, there are still two cucumbers growing but the jury is out on whether or not they'll actually ripen. Either way, we are thrilled with what our garden provided this year:
And the last of the orchard produce: persimmons, one of my favorites.
Tux still enjoys his walks and going out to bark at anything in the sky that is suspicious, like planes, birds, clouds, the moon, or the sun:
And Craig, enjoying the warm fire after a cold day out with the chainsaw cutting and splitting the deadwood so we can be cozy:
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