Our weather has turned wintry today with falling temperatures and rain and sleet. I looked around the yard and found it void of color. But just earlier this week the sedum had turned a beautiful rusty-red. I don’t usually pay too much attention to the sedum, but each small bud and the deep color reminded me of cranberries (another of my fall favorites). I am glad to see that I stopped to photograph the sedum before it bore the brunt of the freeze and slap of the cold temps. Sometime in the near future our landscape will be refreshed in another color – the white of winter.
autumn
Morning fog on the lake
Our fall has continued dry, yet yesterday morning I awoke to a thickness of fog hanging in the air. I grabbed my camera and drove about five miles north to one of our urban lakes. The further north I went the thinner the fog, until I arrived at the lake with blue skies and a beautiful sunrise. I was a bit bummed that I wasn’t getting the fog that I was hoping for, but I continued to photograph the lake and the fall colors. After about 30 minutes the setting changed, and the fog enveloped the far shore, then rolled across the lake from south to north. The atmosphere was just what I was hoping for. As I waited the fisherman moved closer to the point and I made this image. Two minutes later the fog had thickened even more and the fisherman was not visible and the even the reflections were hidden behind the fog. As fleeting and unpredictable as it can be, I love the ethereal and softening effect that fog can give to an image.
Autumn brights
Our cool nights and warm days earlier this week provided the perfect recipe for bright autumn colors. With a blue sky and a sidelight provided by a rising sun, I knew this tree would be brilliant. The colors were intense and the leaves that were already on the ground provided a subtle crunch as I walked around the grove of trees to frame this image. What you don’t see is that I was right next to a busy street during morning rush hour, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the people passing by were aware of this brilliant display that Mother Nature was providing. I hope they paused for a brief moment to appreciate the colors, to be aware of the smells of fall, and to know that it is all fleeting as winter will soon be on the heels of autumn.
Moonset over the autumn prairie
With delightful autumn weather forecast for the day, we headed out before sunrise this morning to Wild River State Park. This Minnesota park is north of the Twin Cities and is located on the St. Croix River. Although there was the promise of afternoon temps in the upper 70’s, the morning had a cool feel to it. We drove down to the canoe landing on the river and could see the fingers of fog stretching into the air and creating a veil over the fall colors on the Wisconsin shoreline. As we turned the opposite direction facing away from the river, we were greeted by the full moon as it was making its way behind the hillside. The prairie stretched out before us filled with golden grasses; the birdhouses were empty at this early time of the morning. The hillside was brilliant with the colors of fall – golds, oranges, reds – all in a hush before the sunlight brought them out into a blaze of bright color. Silently we watched the moon descend behind the hill and turned our attentions back to the river, accompanied by the geese and the ducks that were flying by.
Late summer’s cosmos
Almost as if a switch had been thrown, our weather changed from excessive summer heat to below normal temperatures. With lows in the 50’s at night and highs only in the 60’s and 70’s we had a real hint of the end of summer. Life has sped up knowing that fall can’t be far away, and although we may have hot temperatures again during the daytime, the nights will cool off considerably as our hours of daylight shorten. Knowing this made these beautiful pink cosmos seem even more special when I found them in a wonderful garden today. Their lightness was a reminder of the carefree feeling of summer – enjoy it now because it’s fleeting, soon to be followed by the deeper smells and rich colors of autumn.
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