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.
autumn
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.
A quiet dusk at Lake Como
One of the constants of the weather in Minnesota is the wind. We seem to attract the winds from all four directions, whether it’s a northern clipper coming down from Canada, a warm tropical surge coming from the Gulf Coast to the south, a wintry mix blowing across the northern Rockies from the west, or a wrap-around wind that skirts Lake Superior to the east. So when the air is calm and still it is most noticeable, and so it was one recent evening. A good friend (and wonderful photography scout) of mine was driving around Lake Como and noticed that the lake surface was as smooth as glass. I packed up my camera and headed over to the lake. The sky was filled with dark gray and blue clouds although there was a thin line of clearing to the south. I headed to a small bay where I knew I could include the pink clearing in my photo. As I walked up to the shoreline I found a flock of wood ducks who were not overly pleased that I was coming to their area. Their swimming out into the lake created a bit of water movement in the bay — just enough to blur the beautiful reflection that I was seeing in the water. It wasn’t until I got home and was looking at the photos on my computer that I saw the effect of their movement, and although subtle, I liked the end-result.
Change of seasons
We are quickly slipping from fall into winter. Once Mother Nature has made up her mind it seems that the changes become so much more noticeable. Although our days have been unseasonably warm, this past week we had two mornings of frost. That and the shorter daylight seem to have triggered some major changes. These two images were taken one week apart — the top image was last weekend and the bottom image was this morning. The colors are gone, the leaves have dropped (except for a few hold-outs), and even the sky has changed to its winter shade of gray. There is some mention of snow flurries possible later this week so we are hurriedly preparing the yard and garden beds for winter’s cold. As with the change back to standard time we all seem to change our outlooks. We’re looking forward to soups and heavier “comfort” meals, along with the upcoming holidays.
And with the calendar change to November I’m happy to announce my 2011 holiday card collection and my 2012 desk calendar collection. Both of these can be found on separate pages at the top of my blog. This is my eighth year of offering cards and calendars and you’re sure to find something to delight anyone’s tastes. Some of the photographs you’ll recognize as images that have been posted to my blog, but many of them are new photos. Browse and enjoy! And email me with any questions.
Enjoy this time of changing seasons!
Reds of fall
While the east coast is digging out from its blanket of white, we’ve been enjoying a prolonged and beautiful fall. Many of the trees have lost their leaves and yet some are just now coming into their brilliant last burst of color. One of the best things about this year’s prolonged autumn is that you don’t have to drive far to see the colors — they’re in the neighborhood parks and up and down the streets. And with some sunny blue-sky days like we had last week it was the perfect time to get out for some photographing. This image is from a small park three blocks from our home. The sun was low in the sky about a half hour before sunset when I stopped by the park. Although this single leaf is tattered it was putting on its own brilliant display of fall colors. I’m not sure if the leaf was still there the next day as we had some gusty winds that brought much of the color down to the ground, but for this one evening this leaf was there to be appreciated and photographed.
