This gremlin in our yard greeted our Halloween visitors who came asking for tricks or treats tonight. We had about 65 and not as many as usual, especially the teenagers. The weather was very comfortable, but there was a high school football game that I expect kept the bigger kids occupied. There's candy left over (Marianne's got it.) Here's our homemade gremlin before the sun went down.
I saw this hawk fly low over the road and stopped to try to take his picture circling upwards. Instead it flew about 30 yards away and landed, then walked a few yards to my right and spread its wings and stared at me. After a few minutes it folded its wings and just stood there and I went on my way.
When I went out to get the paper today, a maple down the street was showing off in the morning sun.
Yes! Over a dollar since the end of August. The last time I paid less than $2.50 was March 2007. The most I paid was $4.059 in July. The prices vary from station to station, but I saw several at this price today.
After an inch and a half of rain Saturday, we awoke to a foggy Sunday morning. By afternoon we had sun and our maple tree has donned its full autumn colors! Marianne also posted a mosaic of the maple.!
Today was the first rain we've had this October. The leaves keep falling from the oak and maple trees. And from my rear window, the yellow corn stands out on this gray day.
When I came down stairs this morning and opened the shades, the sun streamed across Marianne's chair, presenting me with a study in light and dark brown.
In my travels today to pick up a few things for our food pantry, I spotted this in the sky. I pulled into a nearby parking space to take this picture. It is a balloon tethered to the Nissan dealer's new building. We do see the Goodyear blimp about once a year as it covers some sporting event in the Baltimore/Washington area. Marianne posted a picture of the blimp by our grandson last year and I caught it this April.
Two more signs that autumn is here. The hibiscus has closed up shop - blooms dead, leaves gone; and the ladybug wants to come inside.
It was a sunny and windy (as you can see in the third photo) day. The geese were practicing their synchronized swimming when a large soccer-like ball sailed by. One little guy broke ranks to chase it, but the wind was strong and this is as close as he got. The fountain usually sprays in all directions. Go to Marianne's post for more pics of the area.
Last night was our first night of freezing temperatures and with the sprinkler running before dawn, we had a cold, frosty morn.
While watering the mums on our patio, I got a few drops on the table. The beads of water stood out in the morning sun, so I added the leaves and went for my camera and voila, today's post.
Today we drove to Greenbrier State Park on South Mountain to the west of Frederick for more shots of fall. When the kids were younger it was one of our favorite places for a Saturday afternoon swim and picnic. We had not been back in about 20 years. They greatly improved the lake area with expanded beach, gazebos, new picnic areas, improved paths and expanded parking. The Appalachian Trail transverses the park and there are other trails as well. The trees in our area are changing in spots, but there is still a lot of green. Marianne also posted photos of Greenbrier.
No dictionary word picture today because we revisited Hunting Lake. Both Marianne's post and my post last Saturday were from this area. I also posted a few more yesterday for Sky Watch Friday. Today the fall colors are much more evident and it was a little nippier. Marianne's post for today is here.
I flipped to the back of the dictionary today and happened upon the page with "warp". So I looked for something not quite straight and found the above section of metal strapping in the garage. I also thought it would be fun to do a little digital warping with PhotoShop. So I took a photo of the long section of my T-square and went to work with the "distort" feature.
Today I discovered "nave" on a page in the dictionary with a bunch of words related to the sea. Nave is not a sea term, but is related to transportation. The nave is the hub of the wheel. Marianne posted a picture of and more info on this particular vehicle last October.
To follow Karin's suggestion, I opened Marianne's BIG dictionary randomly and landed on page 570 and spotted the words froe (also "frow") and frog. I knew I had an old froe that I bought some years ago at a tool auction. I then remembered that one part of a plane (not the flying kind) has a "frog" as one of its parts. The plane below was my Grandfather's.
It's looking more and more like fall here. The maple is getting more color in splotches throughout the tree. A few leaves on the cherry trees are turning with an interesting yellow pattern.
And the impatiens have not gotten the word that their days are numbered. Our first frost hasn't arrived, but will totally deflate them when it does.
Just happened to glance out the window while we were eating dinner and spotted this orange glow.
We went for a drive looking for fall today. We stopped by the lake in Cunningham Falls State Park and found a few trees dressed in their fall finery. We'll be going back as more color shows.
Leaves are starting to change in our area. I found this one under our back yard oak. Our trees are mostly green, while others in the area have a considerable amount of color.
This little fellow was gathering more food for winter before the flowers are gone. The flower is a pincushion Scabiosa pink mist, though it has a distinct lavender color.
The face-lift on a nearby shopping center is nearing completion, with a new red roof, beige facade and brick columns. (click to enlarge and scroll)
Our neighbors planted a small garden behind their garage. We get a nice view of their newly harvested orange pumpkins through our fence.
We went for a drive this afternoon to see if the fall colors were in evidence up on Catoctin Mountain. Not much color yet. Marianne got a shot of the Cunningham Falls and I took this one of leaves in the creek below the falls.
