Glorious October

October, sort of the opposite of March, comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion. This year, early October brought lots of Monarch butterflies. This one was in the pasture, near the compost pile:

 And a number of them swarmed the New England Asters in the front yard:

 Monarchs don't hold still often, and usually close their wings when they do, so I was excited to get some nice photos of them on the Asters:

 And the new, baby roses put out a last burst of flowers. This one was the Emily Carr:

And the Morden Sunrise:

 The Rugosa roses on the side of the house also continued to bloom:

 The giant sunflowers were almost finished blooming and their seed was now feeding the wild birds, but a few tiny miniature sunflowers continued to bloom at their feet:

 Perhaps the last vase of flowers to go to church this year consisted of some small sunflowers, three kinds of roses (Morden Sunrise, Emily Carr and a Morden Blush bud), one Delphinium, New England Asters and a branch of dark red leaves from the Ninebark bush:

And the local scenery took on the look of October with roadside displays of pumpkins for sale:

 Red Sumac and purple New England Asters along the road:

 I stopped at a bridge over the St. Regis River to take this photo:

 Then I walked out toward the middle of the bridge to get more of the river in the picture. October in the north country is a wonderful time of year:

Adirondack Autumn Color - Part 1

I'd just been out with dogs at Meacham Lake (see previous two posts), and we were on our way home. We were headed north on Route 458 through the Adirondacks and the autumn colors were just beginning to show. I decided to stop along the way and take some pictures:

Low mountains along the road:

A wet area beside the road helped turn these trees red:

One lone red tree among lots of green and yellow:

Not much color here, but it was a lovely marsh:

But there was certainly some bright color here:

And Staghorn Sumac can always be counted on to deliver bright red color in the fall:

More color along Route 458:

Much variety here:

Ferns beside the road were turning bronze and mixed with cattails. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Beautiful October In The North Country

I traveled along Converse Road in Fort Jackson, New York to photograph this golden colonnade:

And on nearby Sheldon Road, I found a corner lot filled with these beautiful leaves:

There is a gravel road beside my house where I saw these red Sumacs:

Continuing down the gravel road, red and yellow trees towered above me:

I like autumn color when there is still enough green to highlight the red and yellow:

Along a neighbor's property:

A tree so red it almost glowed:

A small hay field between a stone wall and an autumn colored woodland:

Explosions of color all along the road:

Down toward the end of the road, this house was selling pumpkins:

The light colored bark of Aspen trees stood out among the brighter colors:

And colorful trees bordered the Amish farmer's pasture. It is down the road from his house and barn, and he takes a milk can down there in his buggy every morning, milks his cows and hauls the milk back to his family. New York's north country is beautiful all year long, but October is especially so:

The Beginning Hours Of A March Nor'easter

Another (our third in a row) nor'easter had just begun and it was frosting the woods and fields like white cotton candy. I'd recently taken the tractor driving tour around the north field but decided to hop into my car and start down the gravel road to again see what beauty the snow was creating. I began with this field, backed up by a brushy woodland:

A former gateway into a field which hasn't been used in many years:

A patch of Staghorn Sumac, the red clusters of berries seemingly covered with powdered sugar:

My neighbor's maple sap lines. It was certainly sugaring season, but I hadn't seen him out and about. I worried if something had happened to him:

But then I found him and his uncle stopped along the road, transferring the sap into a giant tank to be boiled down. They are friendly and some of my favorite people. I'm always glad to stop and chat:

I continued on my way and began looking for places where beech trees added a bit of color to what otherwise might make the photos look like they were in black and white:

A beech tree and pine tree among the aspens, with an old barbed wire fence paralleling the road:

An old stone wall where I once released a mouse I'd caught in a live trap:

The snow was sticky and causing an intricate, lacy beauty:

I'd been expecting the Red Pines to be exceptionally lovely, but they seemed to be holding less snow than the hardwood branches. They were still beautiful, though:

More piney woods:

Pines and beech. I stopped at my Amish neighbor's field where he appeared to be digging a well. I asked him if he'd come and trim my horses' feet on Saturday, which is the day he has assigned for such jobs. He said he'd be there in the morning. This was the end of my driving tour, so I headed home to get some work done:

Winter Scenery Along A Gravel Road - Part 2

I was driving down the gravel road by my house to photograph the wintry woodlands (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

Stands of Red Pines had been planted on former potato fields in many places, and now stood tall:

My Amish neighbor had been sawing logs into lumber and stacking it in a large field he'd cleared. I don't know what he intends to use it all for, but he sure is ambitious:

Baby Beech trees clustered at the feet of taller Maples and Aspens:

Red and White Pines, with hardwoods mixed in:

Most of this land was once farm fields, but it is now growing up into woodlands. Only one large plot, which belongs to my Amish neighbor, has been changed back from woodlands to farm fields:

Another neighbor harvests Maple sap for syrup each spring and the lines were up all over the place, just waiting for the weather to break:

This stand of Staghorn Sumac was colorful against the blue sky and fronted by a barbed wire fence:

Another large stand of Red Pines:

The golden leafed Beech trees were especially beautiful, dusted with snow and contrasted with the white Birch trunks and Pine trees:

More of the mysterious, needle-less conifers. I'll try to remember to investigate and identify them when the weather warms up - if I can find them again, that is: