chasinglastoffall1

CHASING THE LAST OF FALL

OCTOBER 19, 2009

PAGE ONE:

Today, unlike our trip to Chestnut Ridge yesterday, was wall to wall blue...nary a cloud. I thought, "Oh, GOOD! I can drive

around by myself and take more autumn pictures!" Alas, the above picture greeted me with its stark horror. Overnight it

seemed most of the reds and golds and oranges had...let go!

And then, gasp, there were these...yellow above, red below, carpeting the ground and not on the trees where

they belong until I'm done with my annual orgy of autumn photography!!!

Still, I was determined, I was, to chase down the last of fall. It HAD to still be SOMEWHERE, and, durn it, I

would find it, I would!

A drive down to the end of Silvis by our house was, alas, not encouraging. Yellow maple leaves fell on my car like

rain in a solid cascade of descending, blowing, unfastened leaf! But I was determined! I was not ready for autumn

to pass. So...I went looking...for three and a half hours...all over the place.

Ah HA! I knew it lurked about, here 'n there, and all I had to do was prowl around and discover where.

Tree hydrangeas make their own sort of nice color this time of year.

The town of Export, which is my mailing address, lies deep in the valley below here.

Rail fences and autumn leaves...a great combo!

Then I discovered this maple on Schoolhouse Road. That's my white Cavalier there. I enjoyed myself for a while

taking the series of pictures just below.

Just across the road from the yellow maple is this old farm that's been for sale ever since we've lived out here.

Last year I walked way down in the fields behind it for a series of autumn pictures (see An Autumn Farm On the Way)

but this year, being brokened 'n all, I stayed nearer the road. It was exactly one year plus one day ago that I took that

series here.

I liked the way the faded red barn paint was so similar to some of the maples across the field. The paint

seems to have faded a great deal since last October, though.

I went to Boyce Park and found these picnic tables interesting, the way the pecan leaves had fallen on them.

This log cabin is in Boyce, by those pecanized tables. As soon as I saw it, I recognized it as a place where we'd had

a picnic many, many years ago. I hadn't seen it since and had forgotten about it.

The sun wasn't at the right angle to take a good shot of the front of the cabin, but the few remaining

yellow maple leaves still looked nice against its darkness. We had eaten at that closest to me table there.

I walked around behind it where the sunlight was better. I think on this side it looks quite like an owl, what with the little rooflet

over the doorway 'n all.

This was in the woods near the cabin. I like the natural shapes that old wood makes.

It was very hard walking around back here because the lawn was thickly carpeted with pecan leaves and UNDER them

lurked large pecans still in their green hulls and if you stepped on one, it could turn your ankle. I picked my way very

carefully and was glad I'd wrapped my left ankle in an Ace bandage for extra support.

ON TO PAGE TWO