Blustery Fall Days

Today the boys and I made our escape out into the fleeting sunshine.  The light seemed to dodge leaves and poke in and out of branches making the world a speckled glory to behold:  Orange leaves, red leaves, and even green leaves danced.  It is surprising how so close to November there are still so many leaves on the trees.

This is one of the longer fall seasons than I can remember in the Northwest.  Perhaps it is because after over two months of no rain it was only about 2 weeks ago when the blustery winds of autumn and the drenching drizzle returned.

Our oak tree is just now turning red.
The serviceberry: red.
Cherry trees and plum trees: just changing from green to yellow and orange

It seems as though only the big leaf maple has lost its leafs & they now make up a patchwork ground cover.

The Indian Plum still has green leaves, even though the boys and I discovered today that new buds are already formed- a sign that spring will come.
The thimbleberry is yellow and has lost the softness  you can feel when it is green.
The salal is mostly yellow.

The shore pine has a fair share of reddish needles- but will stay green all winter.

There are three plants that are flowering.  One I don't recall its name- but it keeps blossoming bright pink.
There are some dahlias.
There is one echinacea cone flower.

Indeed there are so many colors to note, that I am trying hard to remember each one from our walk around the yard.

Today we just took in the breeze.  Looked about.  S commented that he heard a bird and while we were quiet in a cozy hawthorne covered corner.  A squirrel stopped to lick its paws only a few feet away from us.

Today we "walked" the yard.  It is a tradition that I have written about before & yet sometimes it seems hard to slow down so much.  Nevertheless, it is magical when we do.

We found a "purple" snail.  It wasn't so much its shell that was purple, but its body was an iridescent purple.
We found a "white" cocoon in a leaf.   We wondered what it will become and hope to watch its progression.

Then we went inside for warm cocoa.
It was a lovely fall day.