Saturday stroll

The reds in the woods

I step outside and the chilly air tightens the skin on my bare arms.  Summer has ended all too quickly, and some of the leaves on the trees have already started to burn with the colors of fall.  Fall colors… so bright and intense and beautiful.  It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.

~ Siobhan Vivian, Same Difference

The raptors have returned

Everything changes so quickly in the autumn months.  At first it seems like a slow progression, but then one morning I wake up and realize there are more reds, yellows, and oranges than greens among the trees.  The goldenrod in the meadows have already gone to seed, and the browns are beginning to dominate the meadows and the marshes.

The butterflies are still enjoying the butterfly bush and the zinnias.  There was only one Monarch in the garden this morning.

Softly

I followed the deer tracks in the sand of the driveway when I started my walk this morning.  A flock of Northern Flickers scattered when they saw me coming.  Turkey vultures flew overhead, and crows were cawing off in the distance.  There are more crows here now than there were during the summer months, or maybe they’re just more vocal and more visible now that they’re hanging around together.

Woodland light

In the woods, woodpeckers were banging on the trees and the chickadees led me out to the dock.  Seagulls have been spending a lot of time by the creek lately, and a large flock of them took flight as soon as I started walking down the boardwalk and out to the dock.  I sat on the bench for a while and watched as small clouds would form from the merest wisp, puff up a bit, and then disappear once again as the wind blew them apart.

A breath of cloud

It was a wonderful-good walk on a wonderful-good Saturday.