By all accounts, it’s been an unusual autumn. We had summer-like weather into late September, then a cold front dipped down from Canada and turned our thermometers past fall and straight to winter and over four inches of snow. After a hard freeze many of us were afraid there would be no autumn color. Although it isn’t as prevalent as usual, there are some brilliant golden colors in the landscape. Yesterday I drove along the St. Croix River, north of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. I was treated to a brilliant display of gold and yellow as the road hugged the side of the river. The sun was setting the leaves aglow — one final hurrah for fall before the white of winter settles in.
Photography
Fall apple harvest
One of my favorite bounties of fall is the apple harvest. Whether I was living in Washington state or in Minnesota, there are wonderful and delicious apples that grow in the respective regions. This seems to have been a good year for the apple harvest in the midwest. Although it may be a little bit later than usual, the apple trees are full with their luscious fruit. We ventured north to the shoreline of Lake Superior this weekend nad harvested apples from an old tree belonging to a dear friend. No one knows the type of apple, but everyone agrees that it’s excellent for cooking. So now we’ll put up applesauce to enjoy throughout the cold winter, and we’ll enjoy apple pie and cobbler, apple muffins and turnovers. There’s a wonderful smell wafting from our kitchen!
Fall colors
How quickly we’ve moved from late summer to fall! The weather change happened almost overnight, with cooler temps and much-needed rain settling into the area. Everyone was digging out their sweaters and jackets, and looking for cool-weather comfort foods to warm them up. With the season change it seems we all look to deeper, richer colors, as seen in the dark maroons and golds of the mums that are in full bloom in our area. Their colors remind us that the lighter shades of summer are past, just like the sun’s heat. But there’s great beauty in the fall too, and they’re a prime example. Soon the leaves on the trees will turn to the reds, golds, and oranges, and they will fall down to decorate the lawns and streets — one last blast of color before the white of winter settles in.
Dawn on the Mississippi River
We spent some time this past weekend driving south along the Mississippi River. On a beautiful fall day we drove to Wabasha and helped some friends with their grape harvest. With the warm sun, the smell of grapes on our hands, beautiful scenery, and good friends and conversation we picked Marquette grapes for about seven hours. After a delicious dinner-feast (coupled with the best wine!), we drove further south to Winona and spent the night. I got out of bed early, anxious to explore a town I hadn’t been to before. As the sun rose on a beautiful morning, the old bridge crossing the Mississippi River was silhouetted against the clouds that were streaming across the sky. After a couple of hours the clouds increased, the sun disappeared, the wind came up, and it started to rain. Luckily we had indoor activities planned – a visit to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (a hidden gem, worth a good 2+ hour visit) and the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. It was a busy weekend, but one filled with new sights, good conversation, great company, and new adventures.
Hard at work
Everyone is busy getting ready for fall, including the bees. The asters are in full bloom in our backyard, and they seem to be a magnet for the bees. It’s exciting to see all the activity; I wonder at all the flying and flitting around that they do. It was fascinating to observe this one bee as he moved from bloom to bloom, stopping for short while and then moving on to another. Our summer-like weather has yet to turn over to fall temperatures, so he’s like all of us – busily trying to get all those jobs and tasks done that we’ve put off hoping that summer would last longer than September.
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