I was surprised by all the flowers in bloom when we recently went on a trip to Blowing Rock, NC.
The average first frost there is October 11 but this year their first frost was later than usual.
I think they did finally get a hard frost this weekend so we lucked out in terms of going at the right time for late flowers.
I am starting with the flowers at the Inn where we stayed. The shot below is of the flowers outside our room.
I wonder if they had a place for the flowers inside so they could save some of the baskets when the temperatures finally dropped.
It was nice to have the flowers and autumn leaves providing so much color.
All the shots above were taken at the Inn. The shot below is one I took in Blowing Rock when we were walking around town. I like the way the flowers seed heads look beside the reading child sculpture.
Everywhere I looked around town there were flowers, pumpkins and other gourds.
The wildflowers below were the only flowers I spotted when we were walking on trails.
The last shot is one I took in Valle Crusis which is a small community close to Boone, NC.
For flowers around the world, visit the home of Today's Flowers. Happy Halloween!
I thought I'd start with the dark end of a cow.
A dark day brightened by the colorful leaves.
A dark tree standing out in the overcast morning.
Click for the home of photohunters.
I returned today from the northern North Carolina mountains and I took a zillion photographs. Therefore, I thought for nature notes I'd post some of them.
I haven't had time to sort or do anything yet so these are fairly random shots to show the variety of nature we enjoyed.
I took the first two shots on Sunday when we arrived in Blowing Rock and it was a beautiful day.
The weather during the rest of the time we were there was a mixed bag but since I enjoy fog and I know they needed rain, I enjoyed the mix.
The third shot was taken when we were driving to the Moses Cones Memorial Park which is in Blowing Rock and the shot above is of the geese flying to the Bass Lake which is part of that park.
The cows going head to head were at the same park/estate as are the rest of the shots until I get to the end.
I enjoyed seeing the range of autumn on the trip. Part of the mountains are at peak color, other parts past peak. From my house heading west on the road is like seeing autumn unfold since we are still in early autumn but more of the leaves have changed the further west in the state we go.
The northwestern part of my state is always a few weeks ahead of the central part of the state, where I live, in terms of autumn color. The last shot was taken today heading down the mountain towards home.
For more nature notes, please visit the host at Rambling Woods.
The expression, if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes, definitely applies to the past week where I live.
We've had a little bit of everything from wet to dry, and chilly to warm.
The photographs in this post are a smattering of ones I've taken since my last nature notes post.
The dove (second shot) and rufous-sided towhee (shot above) are hanging out at my place.
My holly bush berries have quickly changed from green to rust to bright red.
I took a ton of shots of the great blue heron on Saturday at Shelley Lake and posted some of those shots on my other blog but thought I'd also post a few here.
Thursday is the Nature Notes post date at the host sight, Rambling Woods.
In Colonial Williamsburg, VA there is a folk art museum which has a large exhibit of weather vanes.
The weather vanes have miniatures of a variety of subjects. Some of the miniatures are so big I imagine they would be part of a very large weather vane.
The next miniature is from the museum in Wilmington, NC at the USS NC Memorial Battleship.
The last miniature is located in the NC Botanical Garden at Chapel Hill, NC.
The details that went into this miniature house amaze me, including a tree and water pump.
Click for the home of Photohunters.
I guess the birds must be getting ready for winter because they are out in full force and busier than ever.
The carolina wren was moving her head up and down so I was surprised I got any shots that weren't blurry. I zoomed in and kept clicking as fast as I could and about one third of the shots actually turned out pretty well.
The woods are still mostly green but I've noticed increasing changes in the neighborhood.
The green below is the oak tree in front of my house and the fall foliage is from the dogwood and tulip tree.
There are a hand full of leaves on the oaks in my yard which are changing but most are green. The dogwoods have reached their full fall color and the cherry trees, sweet gums, and maples are pretty far along. There are so many oak trees where I live that having them be much later in terms of changing to fall colors makes our peak fall color come later.
The seed head above is from my rudbeckia (black eyed susan). Most of my flowers have gone to seed.
I love the plumes on grasses and even the change to yellow of the blades as they die back for winter. The female cardinal below was having a nice soak in the afternoon sun.
Thursday is the official Nature Notes day, click here for Rambling Woods (nature notes host).
