I am always surprised at how fast the last trees to change colors drop their leaves.
The first two shots are of the same tree and the shots were taken 3 days apart.
The only trees that still have any leaves left at my house are the three oak trees, and by tomorrow they'll probably all be gone.
I'm beginning with my oaks 6 days ago and moving to yesterday. I have two oaks that are the same kind in my front yard and one that's a different variety.
I should look up what kind they are in my tree book, but I have looked them up so many times and always forget.
When I went outside today almost all the remaining leaves have dropped from the oaks.
I don't know what kind of trees the ones below are. They line the outlet street in my neighborhood and the canopy is bare bones now.
Walking on a trail near my house I noticed how it's starting to look more and more like winter.
Today we had spring like weather but 5 or 6 days ago I took a bunch of shots of how ice formed on the fallen leaves.
The male cardinal below looks so much bigger than he was on a warm day because he was puffed out to help with the cold. It reminds me of how we put on heavy jackets but his coat is built in.
Next is a female cardinal who looked like she was trying to decide whether to get wet or not.
On a warmer day I got a lot of shots of the birds having fun in the bath. Below is a rufous-sided towhee.
When the bluejays showed up for a bath, most of the other birds scattered.
The pair below look like love birds but actually they were chasing each other right after I took the shot.
When the bluejays get into the smaller bird bath I have to put in fresh water because they soak up and splash out most of the water.
Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday to those who celebrate it. Click here for the home of Nature Notes.
I'm looking back to March of 2011 for flowers to post. We've had a hard freeze and I haven't shot any flowers this week but have lots of flower shots in my archives that I never used so I'll probably be doing this a lot this winter.
Click for the home of today's flowers.
I have a zillion photographs that would work for the wet-rain theme. I decided to go with a variety of shots I have taken during 2011.
The first shot is of freezing rain on my deck in January and for contrast the second shot is warm rain on my deck at the end of the summer.
Next is a wet spring shot of the kolwitizia on my deck wall.
Another spring shot is of the rain on my hostas.
Next are some wet shots I took in the West Virginia mountains at the end of spring.
The rain drops left on the windshield below show that it was raining although not hard, since the road wasn't wet, unlike the shot above with the big puddle.
When we were in Blowing Rock, NC in October it was sunny, except for the day we drove home.
I rolled down the windows to get the shot above and below in the foothills.
The next shot was one I took when we were leaving the mountains. I managed to shoot fast enough through the front window to miss getting the wiper blade in the picture.
The last two shots were taken at my house this fall when it was raining. It is actually raining now and almost all the leaves have dropped off the trees but I have so many shots for this post, I'm not going to go outside with an umbrella to shoot the wet end of fall.
The bittersweet berries below are holding on to the raindrops.
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The shots I'm using for this nature post were all taken on Sunday, and already many of the leaves still on the trees then have dropped.
This has been an unusually long fall in terms of the colorful leaves but once it started speeding up things have changed significantly each day.
I like the browns of fall and winter but it's nice to know there are evergreens that will provide some color into the winter.
I'm glad we're starting to have some bare trees as I find them particularly beautiful in a stark unadorned way.
The wind has kept the paved paths from having the piles of leaves they sometimes collect.
The next shot includes a man on a bike pulling his baby in a tent as well as a runner beside them. I'm sure they are glad the leaves are being blown off the path as they can be tricky if they get wet.
I like the way there is a little bit of everything as the seasons are transitioning.
It was extremely calm on the lake with the ducks and geese primarily in protected coves and few on the main body of water.
This time of the year it seems like the cormorants are glued to the pilings as each time I walk I see them on their favored perches.
As if reading my mind, one flew off its perch to prove it could fly.
I wonder if the mallards below will end up as a couple, they seem to be checking each other out.
These mixed ducks are all in the protected coves.
A group spots me and instead of swimming away they head towards me probably thinking I might have food. They aren't in luck so they move towards the bank while I'm photographing.
I can hear a heron somewhere in the overgrown area but it doesn't appear in my view.
Another unadorned tree catches my eye.
I think the goldenrod seeds in clumps like the ones below look like cotton wool.
The creek catches a reflection where it's not covered in the leaves.
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I don't have anything still blooming at my house and haven't photographed any flowers this week.
I decided to look back at my archives and pick some flower photos from April and May that I haven't posted.
The first two shots were ones I took when I was out and about last April. I don't know what kind of tree the first one is but the shot above are pansies. The shots below were ones I took at my house in May.
Above is my hydrangea when it started blooming early this year in May. Now all the hydrangeas blooms are brown and dried. The next two shots are of my roses that started blooming in May.
I don't have any roses still blooming which I miss. Some years I've even had roses blooming in early snow to photograph in late November. If we have an early snow this year there won't be any flowers left to catch it.
The next shot is of my primrose in May.
Click for the home of today's flowers.
