Day 312 - Cycle of color

As it progresses from gold to blushing orange to a leathery russet brown, our maple delights us with its array of color.

Day 300 - Majestic maple

Our maple is finally glowing in all its autumn majesty. If the weather stays clear and relatively calm, in another few days it will canopy the front yard in a beautiful golden shade.

Lew's Pics has another lovely view.

Day 294 - Autumn leaves

Whew! Glad Karin chose Autumn for this week's theme because as much as we've waited for fall to finally explode with color in our parts, it just hasn't cooperated. Last week was probably the best for color as the winds are leaving the trees barer this week.

However, our sugar maple, though not the gorgeous golden color it usually is, is still holding on to most of its leaves. Karin, this one's for you! :)

Day 284 - Bits of fall color

Little by little the colors of fall are starting to appear. This branch on our backyard oak shows off a pretty array of green, yellow, brown, and rusty orange.

Day 91 - Weeping

Even though the wet weather is getting a bit tiresome the past two days, I couldn't help but notice how pretty nature's "teardrops" were on our weeping maple today. Kind of gave new meaning to its name! (a crying tree - not real funny, but a little humorous...) ;)

Day 37 - Fleeting shadow

With the sun being a totally uncooperative participant by not putting in an appearance at all for the past two days, it wasn't looking good for an outdoor shadow photo any time soon. Then, just to tease, it stuck it's head out for all of about a 1/2 hour this evening, so I got a quick shot of the only shadow remotely worth snapping... our lampost on our maple tree. Spectacularly exciting, eh?

Day #305 - Tree treat...

The colors of the willow oak and maple in our front yard looked so pretty this evening as the sunlight hit them from the west.

Day #293 - Scenic route...

This pastoral scene with its pretty little red tree caught my eye as we drove through the woods today admiring the changing colors of fall in our area.

Day #287 - Birdie berries...

As I looked out the window this morning, I noticed gobs of birds almost fighting to get into the dogwood tree. Now I know why. It's absolutely covered in these juicy red berries... I've never seen it with so many. Our feathered friends are feasting!

Day #121 - Spring Surprise...

We pruned the lilacs pretty severely last season, so I'm delighted and surprised with the number of blooms they're putting out this year - usually it takes a couple of seasons for them to return to their pre-pruning prolificness. And, oh boy, they smell absolutely scrumptious! The real surprise, though is the next photo...

Talk about bonus shots! Whoa! As you can see, it's a white dogwood. It's growing in among the lilacs (if you look close, you can see some blurred lilac/dogwood blooms to the left.) The bonus part? We never planted a white dogwood! We have two pink dogwoods on the other side of the yard. Isn't that too cool?

What's really weird is the lilacs have been there for years and started out as cuttings from my original three bushes. So, the dogwood can't be a mistake from the nursery or anything like that, not to mention the umpteen years it's taken for it to bloom.

Verrrry strange, but hey, who am I to question things? If Mother Nature wants a white dogwood growing in my lilacs... fine by me!

Day #118 - Dogwood flower - petals of pretty...

I got this beauty at K-Mart in 1980-81 for a whopping $8. It took years for the silly thing to bloom - seems it was getting too much nitrogen from the lawn fertilizer and had to be mega-mulched - but it finally figured out what it was supposed to do and has been rewarding us with it's loveliness ever since. Now it's priceless.

Not wanting to get my camera (or me!) wet in the drizzle today, I took a quick close-up instead of putzing around trying to frame the whole tree for a full shot. Maybe when it's dry outside, I'll try again.